


All of Me

by willowandfog



Series: Second Chance [2]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Blood and Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Reincarnation, Romance, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 08:35:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25467862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowandfog/pseuds/willowandfog
Summary: Inuyasha lost his wife almost 30 years ago, so when his daughter runs into a woman that looks exactly like her, he has to know who she is and how she's connected with his late wife."When you look at me, do you see what you lost or do you see all of me?"
Relationships: Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha
Series: Second Chance [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1843681
Comments: 18
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ruddcatha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruddcatha/gifts).



> This is part of a series, please be sure to read One Week Sooner first!

Nozomi sighed, dropping her backpack on her desk chair. She tied her long black hair back into a loose tail before throwing herself onto her bed. She glanced at the clock on her desk and groaned. She never had free time anymore, it was always go, go, go. She was grateful that she had finally been able to get into a dorm on campus, driving the twenty minutes home all the time had been a huge hassle. Pulling out her phone she double checked her schedule for the new study group time. She had finally decided to take her science requirement of anatomy even though she was close to graduating. She’d been putting it off as long as she could but couldn’t any longer. Deciding she had to join a study group, knowing that she’d likely fail if not. 

Sighing again, she pushed herself up off the bed. She pulled her textbook from her bag and grabbed her iPad from the desk. She’d be damned if she was going to lug around her whole backpack any more than she had to. With a grumble she left her dorm room, locking the door behind her and set off for the library. 

When she reached the library she took the stairs to the second level where the study rooms were. As she was rounding a corner, she collided with someone as they came around the other side. Nozomi’s book went skidding across the floor and her and the girl she had crashed into both stumbled back. The other girl found her balance but Nozomi did not and found herself on the floor. 

“Oof.” She said when she landed.

“I’m so sorry, are you ok?” 

Nozomi looked up at the girl to see her hand was stretched out to help her up. “Yeah, I’m ok.” She took the offered hand. “Thanks.” Standing up she brushed off her backside before turning back to the girl. Her jaw dropped. In front of her stood her mother. A girl in her early twenties, with long black hair and chocolate eyes, her facial structure was dead on to her late mother. The only differences Nozomi saw were the one streak of silver this girl had in her hair growing from the spot just near her bangs where the hair grew longer, and the golden flecks that seem to be floating in the iris of her left eye. Nozomi stood there gaping at her. She was wearing black yoga pants and a navy blue V-neck shirt, she had a black leather jacket on and was wearing simple black flats, and there was music blaring from the gold Beats that hung around her neck. 

The girl turned to pick up Nozomi’s dropped book. “You’re taking anatomy, that’s cool. My major’s in medicine.” She handed the book out to Nozomi. 

Nozomi froze for a moment, trying to comprehend what the girl had said before taking the book and tucking it in the crook of her arm. “Oh that’s totally awesome. I’m an English major, I’m about to graduate but I’ve just been putting this class off till the last minute.”

The girl chuckled. “Not a fan huh? If you want, I could help you study a bit?”

Nozomi glanced towards the study rooms before looking back at the girl. The girl who looked like her mother. She felt the need to figure this out. “Yeah sure that would be great.” Nozomi held out her hand. “I’m Nozomi.”

The raven haired girl clasped her hand. “Kagome.”

“Holy shit.” Nozomi whispered.

Kagome dropped her hand. “What?”

“Oh sorry. I just meant holy shit, this is so awesome of you. I was going to join a study group, but those can be so hit or miss you can never count on them.”

Kagome chuckled. “I know right. Come on, let’s get out of here, we can grab something at the coffee cart and sit out by the trees.” She walked past Nozomi, heading down the stairs. 

Nozomi followed, pulling out her phone and shooting a text. 

**From: Nozomi**

**10:13 AM**

_ Hey, dad. I’m gonna have to cancel lunch today, got a lot of studying to do.  _

**From: Dad**

**10:15 AM**

_ Ok. No problem. Reschedule for tomorrow? _

**From: Nozomi**

**10:16 AM**

_ Can’t tomorrow, paper due. _

**From: Dad**

**10:17 AM**

_ Oooook. Next week then? _

**From: Nozomi**

**10:19 AM**

_ I will probably have a lot of papers to help grade next week, there’s a big test for the class I’m helping with coming up.  _

**From: Dad**

**10:19 AM**

_ :( Just let me know when. _

**From: Nozomi**

**10:20 AM**

_ I will. Love you! _

“Everything ok?” Kagome asked, nodding to Nozomi’s phone and her repeated texting.

“Oh. Yeah, totally. I was just cancelling lunch with my dad so I could get some studying done.” She tucked her phone into her back pocket, looking to see if the guy making their lattes was almost done. 

“Are you guys close?” Kagome asked, turning to watch her. 

“Yeah, definitely. He comes to campus and we have lunch together every week. He was all I had growing up, I never knew my mom. Well I mean I had my grandparents but… Yeah dad and I are close.” Nozomi shifted her eyes away. “Sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous.”

Kagome laughed, reaching up to grab her hazelnut latte that the coffee guy had set on the cart for her. “Why are you nervous?”

“Just, uhh. You know, meeting new people. Can be difficult sometimes.”

Kagome nodded in agreement. “So true.” Both girls turned as Nozomi grabbed her cup and they made their way to the lawn. “I don’t really know anyone on campus. Honestly I don’t really know many people around here, I transferred here last semester as a trial to see how I liked the school. I’ve been thinking of going back to the one I was at before.”

“No!” Nozomi practically shouted at her. When Kagome turned wide eyes to her she spoke again. “I mean, you should give this school a longer chance. It’s really great here, I’m actually a student teacher. I mean if your only reason for leaving is the lack of getting to know anyone, I’ll show you around and we can hang out. I haven’t really had much time for friends myself, it would be nice to have some girl time.” 

Kagome glanced at her with an amused look. “Sure, that could be nice. I guess some girl time never hurt anyone.”

They found a nice shady spot under a tree, and planted themselves down into the grass. They sat chatting and enjoying their coffees for a little while before Nozomi pulled out her book, handing it to Kagome to look over what material they were covering and opened up Goodnotes on her iPad. They had been going through the chapter for about an hour when Nozomi sighed. 

“Geez this stuff is tedious, I don’t know how you do it.” She set her iPad down, needing a break. When she looked up she spotted a man with silver hair, walking across the pavilion towards them.

“Oh shit, that’s my dad.”

Kagome turned her head to look in the direction Nozomi was. “Th-that’s your dad?” Her voice was a whisper.

Nozomi paled, before jumping to her feet. “Yeah, he must’ve been suspicious that I blew him off. Oh God.” She whispered the last words before jogging off to meet him partway. 

As she approached her dad she began to feel sick.  _ He’s totally going to freak. Oh my God.  _ He had long silver hair that flowed down his back, and was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, his head was adorned with two doggie ears that marked him as a half-demon. He did not look pleased.

“Dad!” Nozomi called as she got closer. “What are you doing here? I said I was stuck studying.” She stopped in front of him, trying to block Kagome from view even though she knew it was pointless, he could easily see over her, with his towering 6’. 

“You were being all weird and evasive and you’ve only ever cancelled lunch once before and we rescheduled for the next day. Unlike this time. What's going on?”

“Nothing’s going on, my schedule just became really busy.” She tried to keep her voice calm, but noticed her dad was sniffing at the air. 

“Riiiight.” He mumbled. “What is that smell?” He walked around her, heading for the tree Nozomi had been sitting under. Kagome was gone.

_ Oh, thank God. But where did she go?  _ Nozomi looked around, seeing if she could spot her anywhere. Nothing.  _ Man, I didn’t even get her number. _

She jogged over to the tree where her book and iPad lay. Her father was sniffing a pair of Beat headphones. Nozomi reached for them. “Oh! Those are Kago-” She went wide eyed. “I mean those are my friends. She must have left them.”

Her dad glared at her, pulling the headphones out of reach from her. “What was her name?”

Nozomi shifted her brown eyes away from his golden ones. “Kag.” She mumbled. 

“Kag? Her name is Kag?” Nozomi nodded. “Nozomi dear. You are a horrible liar. Why were you trying to hide this, what is going on?”

She sighed. “Oh dad.” She spoke with sadness in her voice before stepping forward to hug him. “Why don’t you catch up with her and give those back.” She stepped away from him and pointed at the headphones. “But dad, you should know. It’s mom. The girl said her name was Kagome, and she looks exactly like her. Like exactly like mom.”

Her dad paled. “What?” He whispered. “That’s crazy.” 

“You can go find her and see for yourself. Just… Be careful. I never knew mom so I can’t say for sure that it  _ is  _ her. If it is her then she hasn’t aged at all or something else weird is going on.”

Her dad sniffed the headphones one more time, before taking off in a direction towards the buildings. 

* * *

Kagome jogged along the side of the library and as she approached the end of the building, she slowed down slightly. She turned, going behind the building before stopping to lean her back to the wall, trying to catch her breath. Her heart was racing and not from the jog. She covered her face with her hands. 

_ Holy shit. Oh my god! Oh my god! _

She pressed fingers to her eyes, trying to fight the tears. 

She pushed away from the wall and began walking, heading for the other side of the building so she could cut across campus. She felt like she was in a daze. 

_ I can’t believe this is happening. _

She was so lost in thought that when she came around the corner, she didn’t notice the man coming around the other way until it was too late. She felt like she’d run into a wall.

“Oof.” She stumbled back, starting to fall, she waved her arms trying to catch herself when a hand grabbed her wrist, pulling her back up. She was pulled back into the brick wall and was suddenly staring into the most gorgeous face and golden-honey eyes. 

He had one arm wrapped around her waist, holding her to his chest. A look of shock and disbelief on his face. “Kagome?” He whispered. 

She was lost in his eyes. Her brain felt foggy and all her previous thoughts were gone. 

_ Kagome, say something. He’s talking to you. Say something, anything.  _

"You're gorgeous." She could've slapped herself. 

When he busted out into a huge grin, she bit her lip feeling ridiculous. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that… Outloud.” She opened her eyes to look at him again. 

She could tell he was trying to fight his grin for her sake. “Do you.” He started to say. “Do you recognize me?” When Kagome shook her head, he closed his eyes tightly for a moment. “Are you sure?” 

“Should I?” She asked.

He opened his eyes to look at her again. He studied her for a moment. Seeming to take his time taking in all of her features. “Do you think you’d like to go out with me sometime?”

“What?” She whispered, astonished. 

“Like a date. Would you be willing to go on a date with me sometime?”

Realizing she was still wrapped in his arm against his chest, she cleared her throat and stepped away from him. “You don’t even know me.” She glanced away, trying to avoid his eyes. 

“I think the point of a date is to get to know each other.” 

She studied him for a moment. “I think I’d like that. But, I need to check my schedule. How about you give me your number and I’ll let you know when I’m free.” She pulled her phone from her pocket, turning it over to him to put his number in. It was then that she noticed her headphones in his hand. “Are those mine?” She asked pointing. 

“Oh! Yeah, here.” He handed them to her with one hand as he took her phone with the other. “Sorry, I came to find you to give them back and totally forgot when we collided.” 

When he handed the phone back, she tucked it into her pocket. Then against her better judgment she stuck out her hand. “I’m Kagome.” As she spoke she stared into his pools of amber. She saw a flicker in his eyes at her name. 

He took her hand in a gentle grip. Her heart fluttering at his touch. “Inuyasha.”

“Nozomi’s dad. That’s not going to be weird at all.” 

Inuyasha closed his eyes briefly. “I hope that won’t be a problem.”

“You’re not secretly like a five hundred year old man too are you?” 

He chuckled. “No. I was born in this century.” 

“Reassuring.” She rolled her eyes, before turning them to their clasped hands. She slowly pulled it away, running her fingers along his. “I should go. It was...nice meeting you.” She put her headphones on over her ears, eyes never leaving his. She hit play on her watch and Eminem’s  _ Mockingbird  _ came blaring through. Inuyasha frowned at the volume before Kagome took off at a jog. 

Kagome jogged the whole fifteen minutes home. She barely slowed for lights, letting the music consume her until she could reach her apartment. When she reached her small brick complex, she almost sobbed. She took the stairs up to her apartment two at a time, stopping briefly to unlock the door before slamming it behind her and sliding her back down it to the floor. She yanked her headphones off and tossed them to the floor, tears beginning to fall. 


	2. Chapter 2

Two days passed before she considered texting Inuyasha. She was glad she hadn’t given him her number, it gave her time to process and decide what to do. Now that she had met him she was eager to know him. Despite her negative thoughts on the situation she found herself pulling out her phone to text him. 

**From: (Maybe Kagome?)**

**3:56 PM**

_ Hey, it’s Kagome. If you’re free I’d love to go out tonight. _

**From: Inuyasha**

**4:15 PM**

_ I’m glad you finally decided to go out. I’m available, did you have something in mind?  _

**From: Kagome**

**4:16 PM**

_ Kinda. Could you pick me up at like 9? Dress cas _

**From: Inuyasha**

**4:16 PM**

_ Mysterious. Yeah, I’ll be there at 9, where do you live? _

Kagome gave him her address before sighing with relief and nervousness. She glanced at the time. She had a little time but was too nervous to do anything other than start getting ready. She showered and was blow drying her hair when she got another text from Inuyasha. She turned off the dryer and set it down on the sink, picking up her phone. He had sent her a picture of an outfit laid out on a bed. A red polo shirt and simple black jeans.

**From: Inuyasha**

**5:56 PM**

_ Will this be ok? _

**From: Kagome**

**5:57 PM**

_ Lol. Are you getting ready all ready? =P _

**From: Inuyasha**

**5:59 PM**

_ Just making sure I have something appropriate to wear. Since I don’t know where we are going. _

**From: Kagome**

**6:01 PM**

_ What shoes are you wearing? _

He sent her a photo of a pair of black converse. 

**From: Kagome**

**6:01 PM**

_ Lol. That will be fine. Looks like I’m changing what I had planned though.  _

**From: Inuyasha**

**6:02 PM**

_ Why? _

**From: Kagome**

**6:02 PM**

_ One sec. _

Kagome ran to her room to lay out the outfit she had planned on wearing on the bed. She laid out her black leather jacket and tucked her red lacy camisole inside of it, grabbing her black mini skirt to lay beside it before heading to the door to snag her red high-top converse from the floor. She carried them to her room, setting them strategically and snapping a photo. She sent the photo to Inuyasha and laughed at the irony. 

**From: Inuyasha**

**6:05 PM**

_ I thought you said casual? You look like you’re going on a hot date. _

**From: Kagome**

**6:06 PM**

_ It is casual! I’ll see you in a few hours. _

Kagome took her time getting ready, deciding to leave her hair down she curled it into gentle waves. After failing for the third time to get her shaky nervous hand to draw a wing on her eyelid, she sighed and tossed her pencil down. She crossed her arms across her vanity and laid her head down with a groan. She had apparently fallen asleep because when she lifted her head back up and glanced at the time on her phone it said 8:47.

“Fuck!” She jumped up and looked around her room, she was still in her underwear and hadn’t finished her makeup. “Shit, shit, shit.” She was in a panic, her heart racing. She reached for the outfit on her bed, then stopped. Remembering that she couldn’t wear that. She wanted to cry. “Ok.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Calm down.” She told herself. “It’s just a date, he might even be late picking you up.” She opened her eyes and groaned, knowing that wasn’t true. If anything he was probably gonna be there any second. 

She went to her dresser, pulling out a black camisole identical in style to the red one she had wanted to wear and putting it on. She grabbed her light colored high waisted skinny blue jeans from another drawer and yanked them on, hopping around to get them over her butt. She tucked her camisole into them before doing up the button. She raced back over to her vanity and grabbed her eyeliner, giving the wing one more try, perfect. It perfectly matched the one she had on the other eye. “Of course.” She mumbled to herself, rolling her eyes. She gave the air a super light spritz of perfume before spinning herself in it. She waved at the air, hoping to disperse some of the smell. She should have put some on earlier so it had time to settle and not be so strong but it was too late now. 

She dabbed some blush on her cheeks and a gentle sweep of highlighter across the tops of her cheekbones. Setting her brush down she took a deep breath studying herself in the mirror. She didn’t look half bad, she was proud of the look she’d managed to throw together in, she glanced at the clock, four minutes. She sighed in relief. She grabbed a pair of All-Star socks from a drawer and her leather jacket off the bed, making her way to the living room. She sat down on the accent chair to pull her socks on, and when she leaned down to pick up her shoes, they weren’t there. She dropped her head in defeat before making her way back to her room to grab them off the bed. She was back in the chair and in the middle of tying her first shoe and tucking the laces into the sides when there was a knock on the door. Her heart jumped and she felt her nervous panic start up again. Pushing it away she called out towards the door. “It’s open!”

The door swung open and there stood Inuyasha looking like God’s most gorgeous gift to womankind. Even in his jeans and polo, he was stunning. She blushed, looking back down to pull her other shoe on.

“I hope you knew that it was me. You don’t even keep your door lo-”

She glanced up at him when he stopped. He was staring at her, and she realized that she was bent over so far that her boobs were about to pop out of her camisole. She smirked, clearing her throat to get his attention. “I keep the door locked at night.” She finished tying her shoe and stood. She grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair and tugged it on. 

They rode in semi-awkward silence, Kagome was too nervous to talk and Inuyasha seemed… She looked over at him, he had one hand on the wheel, and his left elbow was propped up on the window, with his hand to his face in a deep contemplating gesture. She told him he should turn at the next light, and when they were heading down the next street she sat forward and gestured to a parking garage on the corner. Inuyasha finally found an open spot after a few minutes of circling and parked the car. 

He followed her lead down the block, walking close beside her. “I thought you’d be more talkative.” Kagome said, glancing up at him out of the corner of her eye.

His gaze turned to her and her heart skipped. “Sorry, lots on my mind. But you’re right. I’m probably making a horrible first impression.”

“ _ You  _ were the one that said dates are for getting to know each other.” She teased.

“Right I did. So, care to tell me about yourself?” He raised a brow at her.

“Not really.” She mumbled before stopping at an unmarked door on the side of the building. She smiled at him. “Hope this is ok.” She yanked on the heavy door, and led the way in. 

They were bombarded with loud thumping music and the sounds of a crowd, as they approached the bouncer Kagome remembered Inuyasha’s sensitive ears. She turned to look back at him, his ears were wilted slightly but his face didn’t show his discomfort. “Are you going to be ok in here?” She asked, raising her voice slightly for him to catch her words. He raised a questioning brow but nodded. Kagome turned back to the bouncer.

“Kagome!” The bouncer said, smiling. The big shouldered man had ginger hair and a scruffy beard. He stood from his stool and hugged Kagome briefly. 

She smiled at him while handing him a fifty for their entry. “Good to see you, Doug.” She patted him on the shoulder and walked past. 

Inuyasha followed, leaning down behind her to talk into her ear. “Do you come here a lot?” 

She looked back up at him, smiling. “No, not really.”

“But that guy seemed to know you well.”

“I know a lot of people.” She led him over to the bar area. The club was fairly large but there was nothing fancy about it, it looked like a normal club, the only thing that made it special was how exclusive it was, not many people knew it existed. 

She ordered two shots of Buffalo Trace from the bartender and handed one of them to Inuyasha. “You do drink right?” 

He rolled his eyes at her before taking the shot and setting his glass down. He motioned for the bartender for two more. When the bartender handed them over, Inuyasha scooted one towards her with a raised brow. He motioned with his head towards the shot that was still in her hand as he took another. “Need me to finish that for you?”

She stuck her tongue out at him before taking the shot in her hand and followed it with the one on the bar. “We didn’t come for a drinking contest. I know I’d lose that.” She said to him. “How many you need for a buzz?” 

He shrugged. “A lot more than two.”

Kagome laughed. “You can decide how many you want.” She motioned for one more and when it was handed over she told the bartender to put all their drinks on her tab. He nodded before walking away. Kagome raised her shot to Inuyasha before downing it, then made her way to the dance floor. She didn’t wait to see if he followed but went out and began dancing to the dubstep style music. When she felt hands on her hips she glanced behind her, it wasn’t Inuyasha but a very drunk blonde girl. The girl smiled at her and tried to get Kagome to join her group of dancing friends. Kagome glanced around for Inuyasha but couldn’t spot him over the crowd. She was dancing with the girls for a bit and drawing the attention of some guys when she spotted Inuyasha not far away. He danced like he was straight out of a Justin Timberlake music video, and a group of girls had surrounded him. He was allowing them to dance on and around him but was keeping his hands to himself. 

Kagome slowly made her way towards his group, starting to feel her slight buzz. She watched him dance from the edge of the crowd, a smile on her face. She liked that he seemed to be enjoying himself. When his eyes lifted and met hers, she found herself biting her lip through her smile and giving him a small wave. Still dancing, he made his way towards her and when he was close enough, he reached past some of the other girls to take her hand. Pulling her through the crowd and into his chest. 

“Hi.” He purred into her ear. 

She blushed up at him, “Hi.”

He began dancing with her, keeping her close against him. “If you don’t come here often, why are we really here Kagome?” His face was close to hers and she suddenly found it hard to breath. 

“Mostly to see how you’d react.” She confessed, flushing. 

He put his lips to her ear. “Did I pass your test Kagome?” 

She leaned her own head up toward one of his ears. “Not yet.” Pulling back she began dancing with him, while pulling out her phone and shooting off a text. She tucked her phone back into her pocket and turned so her back was to him. He stepped forward to place a hand on her hip, and began moving along with her. 

They’d been dancing for only about five minutes when one of the female bartenders approached them, carrying drinks. Kagome gratefully took them from her, turning to Inuyasha with a grin. She handed a shot glass to him. They clinked their glasses and took their shots. Kagome handed the empty glasses to the woman and she in turn handed over two more. Kagome handed another to Inuyasha. He raised a questioning brow at her but joined her. They did one more together before the bartender left them. 

When Kagome turned back to Inuyasha he pulled her against his chest. His brow still raised, he leaned down to sniff her. “Your shots weren’t really shots were they?” 

She fought down her grin and shook her head. “The ones at the bar were though.”

He shook his head at her. “Why would you do that? You  _ do  _ realize it’ll take a hell of a lot more than that to get me drunk. So why are you doing it?”

“I wanted to see if you would notice. Did you smell it or was it that you were questioning my tolerance?”

“I know you can only hav-” He stopped abruptly. 

Kagome leaned forward. “What did you say?” She spoke loudly over the music. “Look I’m sorry if I upset you. I didn’t mean to do that if I did. We can still have a good time.”

Inuyasha shook his head and took her hand in his, he pulled her towards the exit. She frowned but didn’t resist. When they were outside back on the sidewalk she finally spoke. “Look I’m sorry if it really upset you this much.”

He was leading her back towards the garage but suddenly stopped and turned to her. “I’m not upset, Kagome. But now that I know this was all some kind of weird test and you didn’t actually want to be here, I’m going to take you somewhere else.”

“You are?”

“Of course, this was hardly a real date apparently.” He scoffed. 

They made it back to the car and were on the road soon after. Kagome felt a wave of guilt come over her. She felt like she had messed things up but was still conflicted if dating him was even a good idea. 

“Where are we going?” She asked. 

“You’ll see.” 

Fifteen minutes later he parked outside of a large building. Unbuckling he smiled at her. “Come on.”

He took her hand and led her up the stairs to the entrance. There was a man dressed in a suit standing at the door, he opened the door for them as they approached. “Mr. Takahashi, we haven’t seen you here in some time.”

Inuyasha nodded to the man but went inside. There was a huge ballroom inside, large round tables took up one side of the room and there was a huge dancefloor. Couples twirled and danced around each other on the floor, each one was wearing a suit or long gowns. Inuyasha stopped near a coat attendant, turning to try to take Kagome’s jacket from her.

“Inuyasha!” She hissed at him, holding her jacket firmly around herself. “What are we doing here? I am  _ not  _ dressed for this!”

“Neither am I, it’s ok. No one's gonna care.” When she gave him a panicked look he leaned over to speak into her ear. “Have faith Kagome. Trust me.”

She looked into his honey eyes, trying to find something that wasn’t there. She bit her lip before nodding and allowing him to take her jacket. She rubbed at her arms, suddenly chilly at the loss of the jacket on her now bare arms. Inuyasha handed the jacket to the attendant and took the stub from the man. He turned back to Kagome and chuckled a little at her nervous look. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her towards the dancefloor, rubbing her arm with his hand to supply her with some of his warmth. “It’ll be ok.” He whispered to her. 

Kagome looked around nervously, some of the people looked at them with odd looks but most didn’t pay attention to them. There was no music currently but the couples were already waiting on the dancefloor for it to begin again. Inuyasha gave her a gentle squeeze before releasing her. When they reached the edge of the floor he turned to her. “Ready?” He whispered.

She shook her head. “I don’t know how to slow dance Inuyasha.” She hissed at him. 

He took one of her hands and rested it on his shoulder before taking her other hand in his. “Just follow my lead, that’s all you have to do.” Then the music started. He placed a hand on her waist and began to lead her through the steps. Kagome could only guess that it was some form of a waltz. She tried not to watch his feet as they moved, trying to feel the direction his body was directing her. She let out a slow nervous breath. 

“I don’t think I’m good at this Inuyasha.” 

He smiled a sweet smile at her. “It takes practice. You’re doing fine.”

By the time the song was over, she was able to follow the simple pattern the dance seemed to be. The next song began and the steps seemed to be different and she found herself trying to follow the previous pattern and stepped on Inuyasha’s foot a few times. “I’m sorry!” She squeaked. She found herself having to watch his feet again to follow along. When the song came to an end she finally looked up at him and he was grinning at her. 

“Doing ok?” He asked. 

“How do you remember all of this?”

“Like I said, practice. You’re doing great. And my feet are fine.” He winked at her.

She bit her lip, blushing and looked away. They danced through a few more songs and she found that she didn’t need to look at his feet through any of them. And when another began he pulled her closer, so she was pressed up against his chest. She looked up at him and saw a twinkle in his eyes. 

“Now you can’t watch my feet.” He teased into her ear. 

Kagome found that she was glad that she didn’t need to as she took the opportunity to rest her head against his chest, taking in the scent that was uniquely his. She sighed in contentment. After a few moments, Inuyasha laid his head on top of hers, moving his hand from her waist to wrap his arm around her. She relaxed, feeling comfort and safe in his arms, the feeling foriegn to her. 

The song ended and she pulled back away from him, avoiding his eyes. She cleared her throat and pretended to straighten her shirt, slightly embarrassed that she had gotten so comfortable with him so quickly. The next song started immediately but unlike the others this one had a much quicker pace and seemed to be in the jazz genre. 

Kagome shook her head, making a move to leave the floor. “Nope. Can’t do this.”

Inuyasha grabbed her wrist, stopping her from leaving. “Come on.” He pleaded. 

She laughed pulling against his grip. “No! I can’t do that, look at them. I don’t know how to dance like that.”

“That’s ok, it’s still fun.” He yanked again, pulling her to him. “Just watch and try to mirror the movements.” When she stood there stubbornly he laughed. “You’ll have fun, I promise.” He joined the others in their fluid movements, eyes never leaving hers. “Come on, Kagome. You know you want to. You’ll never learn if you don’t try. Besides it’s fun just to try.” 

She sighed and tried to join in, turning a bright red. “This is payback isn’t it?” She asked him. 

He laughed, shaking his head. “Of course not. It’s fun, and you seem to be enjoying yourself.”

She managed to watch the other ladies nearby out of the corner of her eye, Kagome was able to follow along but caused them to be a few steps behind the others. She reached her hand out to Inuyasha like the other ladies did and when he took it, he spun her around before bringing her close to him and dipping her down. He held her there for a moment, looking into her eyes. 

Kagome blushed, biting her lip slightly, staring into his amber eyes. “I think in the movies this is where we would kiss.” She whispered. 

Inuyasha let out a burst of laughter and he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on the end of her nose, Kagome’s heart skipped. He leaned forward again, placing his lips next to her ear. “I heard that.”

Her blush deepened and she smacked his arm. When he stood her back up, Kagome realized the song had ended and everyone was clapping. “Why is everyone clapping? Is it over?”

He grinned at her. “Yeah, we came in late. Why? Disappointed?” He lifted a brow.

“Yes, actually.” She stuck her tongue out at him before turning to make her way back to the coat attendant. 

The ride home was in silence again, Kagome still feeling a bit embarrassed about him realizing she was affected by him.  _ I mean, what woman wouldn’t be. He must be used to it. _

Inuyasha walked her to her door, and after she unlocked her door she turned back to him. “Ummm.”

He stepped forward and pulled her in for a hug. “Look.” He swallowed. “I know we just met, but I had a lot of fun, even though the night started out kinda odd. I hope we can try again sometime.”

“I think I’d like that.” She whispered. 

He pulled back slightly from the hug to look down at her. Hesitantly he leaned forward and placed a lingering kiss to her forehead. “Goodnight Kagome.” He pulled away and turned, heading down the stairs. 


	3. Chapter 3

Inuyasha had inquired about another date the next day and Kagome had explained that the next few days were packed with classes but that she was free on Friday. He had told her that he already had an idea of where they should go and she had agreed easily on letting him decide. 

They had spent all of Friday afternoon go kart racing. They took turns trying to cut each other off, and even trying to run each other off the road. Even receiving a warning from the attendant that it wasn’t bumper cars. For lunch they stopped briefly to grab burgers from the cheap concession stand, sitting in the grass, and talking about how they should go pro. On the way back to Kagome’s apartment she had told him how much fun she’d had and jokingly suggested that next time they should try bungee jumping. 

On Monday, Kagome almost choked on the latte he had brought her when he pulled up to a bridge, where a group of professional bungee jumpers were waiting. Kagome had to admit that she loved the adrenaline spike as she was standing there, on the lip of the bridge, arms wrapped tightly around Inuyasha as they pumped themselves up for their double jump. 

“Ready?” He asked, his arms tight around her.

She let out a small squeal. “I’m kinda scared.” She admitted, looking up at him.

“I’ve got you.” He said quietly, pressing his lips to hers, and before Kagome could register anything else, he tipped them over the side.

She broke the kiss and screamed. The wind rushed past them, hair whipping around. Kagome made a point to take a mental picture of Inuyasha’s face as he grinned and whooped into the air. When they reached the end of their line, they bounced back up briefly, Kagome squealing and clutching Inuyasha tighter. 

Even though it had been one of the most amazing experiences of Kagome’s life, on the way home all she could think about was Inuyasha’s lips on hers. It had just made the day a million times better than it already was. She looked over at him as he watched the road, she admired him and all the adventures he had been planning for her, and her heart swelled. She took his hand into hers and gave him a shy smile when he glanced at her. She thought she saw a hint of color on his cheeks when he adjusted in his seat slightly so he could hold her hand more easily while driving. 

When they got to her apartment, she had kept holding his hand all the way to her door. Turning to face him she spoke. “So I’m staying in tomorrow, would you be interested in coming over and watching some old movies with me?”

He grinned at her. “ _ Old  _ movies huh? Is that a poke at me?”

Kagome fought her smile. “Of course not, grandpa. I happen to love black and white films. Well I will be starting movie time at six, with or without you.”

“I’ll be here.” He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. He gave her hand a light squeeze before turning to leave. 

At 5:45pm the next evening when there was a knock at the door, Kagome bolted from her room and ran to look through the peephole. She opened the door and was greeted by the pizza delivery guy. She handed over the money and took the pizzas from him. She kicked the door closed behind her and set the pizzas on the coffee table. She stared at the table, trying to think if she had forgotten anything, not that she would have enough time to do anything about it if she had. 

She threw herself onto the couch, feeling unbelievably nervous for some reason. She wasn’t sure why, since she’d been out with Inuyasha on several dates already.  _ Guess this one just feels different… More intimate? Ugh! What am I doing? _

There was another knock and Kagome jerked her head up from the couch, wide eyed.  _ Ok, ok, calm. He’s gonna notice the second you open that door that you’re nervous.  _ She stood from the couch and looked over herself. Her hair was pulled up into a high messy bun, with some tendrils hanging loose. She was wearing her comfortable pink pajama bottoms that were covered in little peaches, and a plain black tank top, her tank top was low cut and she bit her lip at it. She nervously glanced around her living room and spotted a zip-up hoodie slung over the back of her accent chair. She grabbed it and tugged it on, zipping it up halfway, it didn’t help to hide her cleavage but at least it was something. Taking a hold of the doorknob with shaky fingers she took a deep breath. 

She pulled the door open and splayed her arms out wide. “TA-DA!”

Inuyasha stood there in a baggy hoodie and jeans, his long silver hair pulled up into a loose bun, and he held two pizzas in his hand. She grinned at him, resisting the urge to bite her lip at how sexy he could still look in a hoodie. “Ta-da?” He asked.

She stood aside to let him in. “I decided that I like you enough that you can see me in my true form.” She gestured to herself and the outfit. 

He came in and she closed the door, he gestured to the folded pair of sweats he was carrying tucked under one arm. “Me too.” He teased her. He set his pizzas on top of the ones she already had on the table. “Guess we should’ve planned a little better.” He thought about it for a moment. “Maybe not, could probably eat a good chunk of these myself.” 

Kagome pointed out the bathroom to him so that he could change out of his jeans and into the sweats, and soon they were cuddled up on one end of the couch, munching down on pepperoni pizza. 

“Ooo I love this part, when he sticks his hand in there and acts like he lost it. Totally something you would do.” Kagome said, pointing to the tv screen where  _ Roman Holiday  _ was playing. 

“I probably would do that, he got her good, look she totally believed it was real.” He looked at her with a weird smile on his face. “Do you always talk this much during movies?”

“Yeah, I love talking during a movie, I know it’s distracting but I can’t help it. Most people hate it and I can’t get hardly anyone to watch them with me anymore.”

“You’re weird, but I guess that makes me weird too, cause I have a bad habit of talking during movies too. I think all my questions about what’s going on outloud.”

“Guess it’s safe to say that you’re a good movie watching buddy for me then.” She stuffed the last bite of her pizza into her mouth. 

He was still looking at her when Kagome looked at him from the side of her eyes. “Can I help you?” She mumbled around her bite. 

Inuyasha reached over and took hold of one of her escaped tendrils, he held it gently between his fingers. “Why do you color your hair like this?”

She swallowed her mouthful before swatting his hand away. “I don’t color it, I was born like that. It’s called poliosis circumscripta, but the doctors say it’s weird because it’s supposed to be white not silver. I used to color it to try to hide it but stopped when I realized that I kinda like it and didn’t care to show it anymore.” 

They were part way through their third Audrey Hepburn movie when Kagome began to doze off, her head resting on Inuyasha’s chest, his arm around her. He shifted slightly and scooped her up into his arms, standing to carry her to her bedroom. He laid her on her bed and pulled a blanket up around her. He hesitated for a moment before leaning down and pressing a light kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight Kagome.” He whispered.

* * *

The next month continued in that fashion, Inuyasha would seek out and find amazingly fun things for them to do once a week. Then they would always find a day during the week where both were available to cuddle on the couch and watch movies at Kagome’s. They’d still only kissed the once and Kagome was beginning to wonder why. She had had the urge and temptation to kiss him but always hesitated or would talk herself out of it.

_ Maybe he’s waiting for something? Or waiting till he thinks I’m ready? Maybe I'm just being crazy but it’s been almost two months and we’ve only kissed once…  _ Kagome spent the whole day dwelling on it and her relationship with Inuyasha. She knew that she was growing attached and when she was honest with herself she knew that her feelings ran deeper than that. 

That night Kagome had dreams of things best left forgotten, and images of memories she wished she didn’t have. She woke in a panicked sweat early in the morning before the sunrise. She bolted up from her sleep, gasping for air. When she finally registered that she was in her apartment and everything had just been in her dream she dropped her head into her hands and cried. She spent the early morning hours sitting in the window seat in her bedroom, steaming cup of tea in hand, and tears on her cheeks. She had come to a decision that she didn’t like but knew she had to do. 


	4. Chapter 4

Kagome pulled on her headphones, taking the stairs out of her apartment two at a time. Hoping to find the book she needed at the campus library. She had planned to do some studying and extra research for her paper, while avoiding Inuyasha. She pressed play on her watch and her music began pounding into her ears as she made her way out of the complex and down the street, heading towards campus. 

As she walked down the rows of shelves in the library, eyes scanning over the spines of books her mind wandered back to Inuyasha. She felt awful for ditching him earlier but felt it was best. Even though her heart ached, she knew it would be better to just blow him off without saying anything and hope he took the hint. She sighed loudly, not finding what she was looking for and decided that internet research would have to do. 

She left the library, placing her Beats back over her ears and pressing play. She needed to drown out these thoughts of Inuyasha, the more she thought about him the harder her heart ached. It could never work between them. She shook her head, turning up the music a few notches before turning and began jogging down one of the sidewalks leading away from the library towards the campus center. 

Her mind was finally beginning to blank out when someone grabbed her shoulder, yanking her headphones down off her ears, they landed around her neck. She turned quickly to see who it was. Inuyasha stood there, glaring at her. 

“Kagome. What the hell, you shouldn’t listen to your music so loud, I was calling for you and you couldn’t even hear me. What are you doing? Why didn’t you meet me earlier? And why didn’t you answer my calls when you didn’t show up? I was worried.”

She paused her music, her heart clenching. She fought to keep her face emotionless. “Look, I like you, I mean I really do like you but there are parts of me that you wouldn’t like. You should just stay away from me.” She turned to go, putting her headphones back on. 

He grabbed her arm. “Hey, wait. We had plans tonight. So why don’t you show me some of these parts I supposedly wouldn’t like and let me decide that for myself.” His voice was stern but his face was pleading. 

She tilted her head at him. “Seriously? When a girl willingly admits she has major flaws, guys should probably listen.”

“Please. I like you and I want the opportunity to decide that for myself.”

She sighed, pulling her headphones back down around her neck before glancing at her watch. “We might be able to make it.” She mumbled to herself. She turned her eyes to his. “Fine.” She grinned and raised a brow. “Ready for a run, dog boy?” She pulled her arm free and took off at a jog. 

Inuyasha easily kept up with her and had asked three times where they were going, and her only reply was to smile at him. When they reached the end of a block after dashing through the city for fifteen minutes she slowed, taking deep slow breaths. She rested two fingers on her neck, eyes on her watch.

“Why are you monitoring your heart rate?” He asked curiously, looking at her confused. 

“Just checking I didn’t overexert myself.” She let out a large breath. “Should be ok.” She murmured. She turned down an alley, the street lamp lights hardly reaching to make anything visible. 

“Umm Kagome…?” 

“Don’t worry, we’re here.” She stopped in front of a door. “Ready?” She asked him. When he nodded she banged a few times on the door.

When the door was yanked open a burst of sound came through, echoing down the empty alley. A tall, bald, giant of a man stood in the doorway, hardly fitting in it. “Hey! Kagome! What are you doing here?” 

“Hey Jim.” She gave him a friendly smile. “Am I too late?”

Jim turned his head to look over his shoulder for a moment. “Not if you go now.”

“Shit.” Kagome pulled her arms from her backpack, swinging it around in front of her. “Inuyasha can you hold this?” She handed it out to him. 

When he took it from her, she flipped open the top quickly, glancing inside. “Crap I don’t have my shoes.” Glancing down at her red high-top converse. “Damn, you’re my favorites.” She pouted for a moment, before shaking herself out of it. Grabbing her headphones, she jerked them off, tossing them into the open pack. She followed suit with her watch. She yanked her zip hoodie off, balling it up and shoving it inside as well. When she pulled her top up over her head, Inuyasha’s eyes darted away, a blush rising on his cheeks. She shoved the top inside before pulling a black tank top from the bag. “Jim, I’m in. Let them know please.” The big man nodded, disappearing inside. 

After her tank top was in place Inuyasha spoke up. “What is going on? Where are we? It smells like sweat in there.”

She chuckled. “I bet it does.” Pulling her hair up into a high ponytail she sighed looking at him. Her heart was racing and she was nervous, having him here. “You ready? We gotta go.”

“Sure.” When he made a move to hand her her bag back she shook her head.

“Would you hold onto it for me?”

“Sure.” He said again, pulling him arm through one loop and swinging it onto his back. 

He followed her inside, staying closely behind her. After turning the entrance corner, there was a huge crowd. They were all gathered around a raised stage and on it stood a man with a microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, there has been a change in tonight's schedule. Kagome has decided to grace us with her presence!” There was a roar from the crowd and some of the people turned towards them. They were clapping, cheering, and hollering. “Kagome will be replacing Big-T, facing the same opponent. So get your bets in now!” The man scurried off the stage.

Kagome made her way easily through the crowd, most people moving out of her way, some reaching out to clasp one of her shoulders. When they reached the edge of the stage, she turned to face Inuyasha. “Ok. Here we go. Maybe you’ll learn to listen to women when they tell you things.” She leaned up to give him a peck on the lips. “For luck.” She wiggled her brows at him, grinning. 

Placing her hands on the stage, she pushed herself up, and rolled onto the mat. Standing she took a deep breath and began stretching. 

“Kagome!” She turned, hearing a voice she recognized. Coming to the edge of the stage she crouched down near Inuyasha. A short hunched old man approached the stage, he had a receding hairline and grey hair was pulled into a short tail at the back of his head. He had two clumps of grey whiskers sticking out from the ends of his lip, and his eyes were huge and bug-like . “What are you doing here? I told you that you need a night off.” He handed her a white roll that looked like bandages. 

She took it from him and began to unroll it some before beginning to wrap it around her palm. “I know, I know!” She shouted over the crowd. “ _ Someone _ , just  _ had  _ to see to believe.” She jerked her head towards Inuyasha, who was gaping at her. 

“Kagome.” The man hissed. “I told you to rest for a reason! It’s Kouga tonight!”

Kagome blanched for a moment, hesitating in her wrapping. “What?! What is he doing here?”

“He came to practice obviously. Now hurry up, here he comes.” The man nodded his head behind her. 

She quickly finished wrapping both hands, tying them off. She spared a glance at Inuyasha and gave him a weak smile before standing and turning to face the center of the ring. 

Inuyasha moved the few steps to close the distance between himself and the man. “Who is Kouga? Why did she look so worried?”

The man looked up at Inuyasha shaking his head at him. “Kouga. The wolf demon? Kagome’s never fought a demon in the ring before, only in practice.”

“What?! Fight?” He glanced around again before dropping his head. “Man I’m dumb. This is a fighting ring. What in the actual fuck Kagome.”

The man beside Inuyasha looked up at him again with a brow raised. “Don’t know her well do ya?” He chuckled. “Kagome has been doing this for...Gods I dunno. Years. How old is she now?” He asked himself, scratching his chin. “I would say about eight years now. Been trainin’ her up myself. Met that poor girl when she was only fourteen, starting fights on the streets.” He shook his head at the recalled memory. “She was a sad sight.”

Inuyasha frowned at this. They had never discussed her past, or her family. He’d been too busy trying to figure out how she was connected to everything and if he should tell her to even inquire about the past. Too focused on the personality she has now. 

The crowd quieted as Kouga climbed up on the stage. His tanned skin wasn’t covered by a shirt and he was wearing spandex shorts. He had long black hair that was tied up high like Kagome’s. The man with the microphone entered the stage again. “Alright folks, no more bets. Now, you know the demon rules. No rounds. Tap out or knock out only. BEGIN!” The man rushed off the stage as Kagome and Kouga began to circle each other. 

“Kagome, looking fine as ever.” Inuyasha was surprised to hear the demon speak so familiarly with Kagome. “Why don’t you just give up now and we can use my earnings to have a fun night, hmm?” He grinned at her. 

“Oh give it up Kouga. I’m not going on a date with you. Especially since you already know I’m going to win this.”

“I like ‘em feisty.” Was his response before he lunged, swinging out at her. 

She dodged back and to the side, sweeping her leg out and catching the edge of his ankle. He went falling forward, but turned it into a roll and hopped back onto his feet. 

“Oh Kagome. Don’t you worry, I’ll lick your wounds for you when this is over.”

Inuyasha growled, tossing the backpack to the ground and would’ve jumped onto the stage but the little man held him back, surprisingly strong. “Don’t. Hold yourself together. She’s fine, for now…” 

Kouga and Kagome exchanged some blows, all of them blocked. But when Kouga used his speed to get behind her and kick his leg out, she was taken in the side, and went flying to the ground, hitting the mat with a thud. She stood, holding her side for a moment and hissing in a breath. 

“How is she supposed to fight a demon?” Inuyasha asked the man. “There’s no way she’s stronger or faster. She’s going to get beaten to a pulp.”

“My boy. She doesn’t need to be faster  _ or  _ stronger to win. She just needs to be smart. There’s always a way to use your opponents' advantages against them. She’s figuring out how right now. Just watch her. She’s going to get hit a bunch before she can adapt and react. Just don’t freak out. She’s been punched before.” The little man laughed. 

There was an exchange of blows between the two, Kagome managed to dodge or block most of them but missed one. Taking the fist in the side of the mouth, blood spraying from the force. Kagome stumbled back, putting the back of one hand to her mouth, the wraps soaking up some of the blood. 

When Kouga came at her again, she ducked, punching up, clipping him in the jaw. He growled at her, before kicking out his leg, sending her to the mat. Inuyasha heard the breath rush from her lungs as she hit with a thud. Kagome coughed, trying to catch her breath when Kouga landed on top of her, straddling her, swinging wildly at her head. Her arms went up to defend herself. 

Inuyasha tensed, itching to jump in, but his arm was still in the tight vice of the little man’s hand. “Watch. She usually gets pinned before she figures it out. I tell you what boy. That girl is something special, there’s something there. Like her brain is processing it all so fast that she has to catch up with it. You’ll see it, it’s why the people here love her. It’s like she’s a different person. She’ll suddenly know his patterns and fighting style, it’s her advantage to fighting bigger opponents, she’ll be able to use their weight against them, because she’ll know where everything is coming from. She may take a beating for a while, but she rarely loses.”

When Kouga failed at landing good blows to her head, he moved on to her side, aiming for organs. Kagome took the opportunity to grab one of his arms, yanking to the side, pulling Kouga off balance enough for her to buck him off. She rolled on the mat, away from him. She crouched, catching her breath while watching him. When she tensed, and clutched her side, Inuyasha clenched his jaw. 

“Get ready.” The man whispered. Inuyasha suddenly realized that the crowd was silent, he glanced around, everyone was staring intensely at the stage. 

Kouga moved a few steps forward, waiting for her, as if he was expecting her to pounce.

“What’s supposed to happen?” Inuyasha whispered back. 

Kagome let out the tiniest, cutest little sneeze Inuyasha had ever heard. His nose twitched before the crowd suddenly came to life, a screaming roar filled the place, echoing off the walls.  _ Highway to Hell  _ by ACDC suddenly started blaring over the speakers. 

“That!” The little man pointed at Kagome before putting two fingers in his mouth, letting out a loud whistle. Joining in on the crowds cheers. 

“KA-GO-ME! KA-GO-ME! KA-GO-ME!” The crowd began chanting. 

Kagome turned her head to the side, coughing slightly before spitting blood from her mouth. She stood, and stretched? Inuyasha titled his head, confused. She looked as if she was waking from a nap. Kouga halted his approach, instead taking a step back. 

Kagome turned, meeting Inuyasha’s eyes and giving him a wink before turning back to Kouga. Inuyasha’s thoughts halted for a second. Was her flecked eye...gold?

Kagome and Kouga began their circling again. When he swung out, she moved slightly to the side, her hand moving up to catch his wrist, pulling him towards her. She headbutted him in the face, he let out a grunted cry as a loud crunch came from his nose. Blood streamed down his face. He stumbled back and she stepped forward, kicking out, she landed her blow in his gut but didn’t pull her leg back quickly enough. He grabbed hold and shoved back. Kagome landed on her back, and Kouga was instantly on her, again. He pinned her down for a moment. 

Kouga leaned forward, seeming to be whispering into Kagome’s ear, as Kouga found and met Inuyasha’s eyes with a smirk. Inuyasha’s jaw clenched tight. Kagome brought up both hands, clapping both his ears. He leaned back enough for Kagome to flip him, when he landed on his back, she was over him briefly. Giving him a few good punches to his face before retreating, knowing she didn't have the strength to pin him down. 

Kouga jumped to his feet, huffing out a growl at her. He lunged at her, grappling her around the waist before tossing her over his head and onto her back. He turned, as Kagome hooked one of her legs around his and twisted, throwing him onto his back beside her, she rolled onto him, swinging at his face, aiming for the broken nose, she landed a punch on his eye before he hooked her swinging arm with one of his and returned the headbutt. Kagome let out a cry and fell backwards, blood gushing, tears streaming from her eyes. 

He grabbed one of her legs, dragging her towards him, bringing a foot up to stomp on her stomach. She brought her hand up and punched him in the thigh, causing him to lean to the side, she brought her free leg up and kicked with all her might at the side of his knee. The leg made an awful pop, the leg breaking. She kicked him in the chest and he fell. She moved behind him, wrapping an arm around his neck from behind, her other arm helping to hold it in place as she began to choke him. He tried to pry her arm off, before swinging wildly at her face, hitting her broken nose. She let out a scream but didn’t loosen her grip. 

“Come on Kouga. Tap out.” She said to him through gritted teeth, struggling to keep her hold. She kicked his leg again, and he let out a gurgled cry. She kicked it again. “Tap out!” She hissed. She jerked her arm tighter, he let out a choked noise. She kicked his leg again, but there was no scream this time. He tapped at her arm viciously. She instantly let go, falling backward, gasping for air. 

Kouga laid there. When Kagome stood, the crowd roared. She staggered towards Inuyasha and the little man. When the man threw a towel up on the stage, she reached down to get it, she began wiping the blood from her face.

Inuyasha tensed when he noticed Kouga standing unsteady on one leg. There was a look of murder on his face, Inuyasha went to jump on the stage yet again when the man grabbed his arm. Inuyasha glared at him and the man shook his head easily. 

Kouga hobbled quickly for a man with a broken leg, he jumped at Kagome, landing on her back, she stumbled a bit but stood steady, wrapping one arm under the leg he had wrapped around her. It was almost as if she was giving him a piggyback ride. Inuyasha tilted his head with wide eyes when they both started laughing, it was a piggyback ride? 

“KA-GO-ME! KA-GO-ME!” Kouga began chanting, pumping a fist into the air, urging the crowd on. Kagome laughed before setting him down. She turned towards him and they hugged. He held her tight, huge grins on both their faces. With one arm wrapped around each other, they turned to face the crowd, bowing slightly in each direction at them. The crowd cheered again, before beginning to disperse, some going to collect their winnings.

Kouga knelt awkwardly, before tugging on Kagome’s arm, getting her to kneel down in front of him. Inuyasha turned to the little man, the question on his face.

The man grinned at him. “Their good friends. Actually I’m surprised to see her here with you. Kagome hates demons. Kouga is the only one she’s ever trusted. They’ve known each other for many years, he’s just been away dealing with pack matters.” The man leaned down, grabbing a small bag that lay at his feet. 

When there was a loud scream from Kagome, Inuyasha’s head jerked back towards her. Kouga had reset her nose. She breathed deeply, clutching her nose. 

“Damn that hurts worse than the breaking.” She looked at him with an evil grin. “Your turn.” She reached up to Kouga’s face, fingers braced on either side of his head, her thumbs probing his nose, feeling for the misplacement. She shoved one thumb roughly into his nose. 

“Fuck!” Kouga screamed. “Jesus, Kagome.” He swatted her hands away. 

“What? It’s not like it could wait. You heal too fast, have to get it back in place before it heals crooked and you’re not handsome anymore.” She stuck a teasing tongue out at him. He shoved her away. She sucked in a pained breath, and clutched her side. 

“Kagome!” Inuyasha climbed up into the ring and went over to her, kneeling down. She leaned back onto one elbow. Sucking in a breath, she peeled one side of her tank top up, revealing a huge bruise forming over the length of her side. Probing at her ribs, she let out a small sob. “Kagome, stop.” Inuyasha grabbed her hand.

“I’m ok.” She said, glancing at him. “I was just checking if any of the ribs were broken. I’ll be ok, hurts like the dickens though.” She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a slow, calming breath. When she opened her eyes again she cleared her throat, pulling her tank top back down to cover the injury. “Ok, Kouga. Let’s look at that leg.”

“The leg  _ you  _ broke.” He mumbled, already lying on mat, one arm draped over his eyes. “Then  _ kicked  _ over. And. Over.” He moved his arm slightly to glare at her. 

“I said tap out, you wouldn’t.” She said, crawling past Inuyasha, over to Kouga. She tenderly touched his leg. “I did break it at a bad angle. I’m sorry Kouga. You weren’t supposed to be here tonight. I never would’ve come if I would’ve known you were scheduled.”

“I wasn't, I just showed up and got in.”

Kagome looked back towards the little man. “Totosai, my bag?” The man nodded, tossing the bag up into the ring. She glanced at Inuyasha before blushing and looking away. She felt up and down the leg, glancing back at Inuyasha she spoke. “Do you think you could help me? I might need help resetting the leg.” 

Inuyasha nodded and scooted his way over to them, sitting opposite Kagome. She reached up and took his hands, biting her lip at the feel of his skin on hers. She placed his hands on Kouga’s legs. “Ok, when I say, I want you to push, hard. You’ll feel some resistance, push past that. You’ll feel when it’s right. I’m gonna try to push from the other side to keep the leg steady. We need to be quick and then bind it in place before he starts healing it.” She got herself into position, using her whole body to brace against the leg. “Ok, on three. One. Two. Three!”

Inuyasha pushed against the leg, as Kouga screamed out, Inuyasha could feel the slight grinding of bone on bone, then the bone felt like it slipped and fell into a crevice just the right size for it. He stopped pushing. “Ok, I think it’s there.” He moved his hands away, sitting back to watch Kagome as she felt around the leg again. Her face was scrunched up in concentration.

“You’re right, it’s the best we can do here.” She dug into the small bag, pulling out her makeshift travel split and rolls of ACE wrap. She began splinting Kouga’s leg, using the bandages to hold the splints in place. 

“You’re a doctor?” Inuyasha asked, confused.

She laughed, glancing up at him. “A little young to be a doctor already, wouldn’t ya say?”

“She’s going to school for sports medicine.” Kouga mumbled from underneath his arm. “Do you guys not even know each other?” He questioned Kagome. 

Kagome frowned, biting her lip. “We just...Haven’t talked about every detail of our lives, Kouga. Mind your business.”

After Kagome was done, Inuyasha helped Kouga climb to his feet. Kouga took Kagome into his arms, holding her tight for a moment, then kissed her forehead. “Let’s not do this again. I hate fighting you.” He said softly to her.

Kagome nodded in return before dropping her arms from him. He hobbled away towards the small steps that led down from the ring, Totosai waiting there to help him brace on his way down. 

“Kagome, time for that rest that I said you take before.” Totosai called to her. 

“You got it!” She said back.

When both Kouga and Totosai were gone, Inuyasha and Kagome were alone. The crowd now long gone. “I should go clean up before I head home. Looks suspicious walking down the streets covered in blood.” With that she hopped from the stage and snagged her bag from the floor, making her way to the locker room in the back, not waiting for Inuyasha’s response, and not looking at him.

It was almost fifteen minutes later before Kagome emerged from the back, wearing the clothes she had stuffed into her bag earlier. Inuyasha sat waiting on the edge of the ring, his legs dangling from the side. Kagome’s face was cleaned of the blood, she had a bruise forming on her cheekbone and her nose was slightly puffy but other than that she looked ok. But what drew Inuyasha’s attention was her eyes, they were slightly red, and there was the scent of salt in the air, as if she had been crying. 

She hesitated when she noticed him sitting there. “Oh, hey. I didn’t think you would still be here.”

He jumped down from his perch. “Kagome. It’s going to take more than ring fighting to scare me away.”

“Riiight.” She looked away nervously. “So you’re ok with it? This is a huge part of my life. I’ve been doing it for a long time. I get the shit beat of me almost every week. I have bruises and break bones. Most nights I limp home. And that’s just acceptable to you? I get paid to beat on people.”

“I don’t have to like it to still accept you for doing it. But Kagome, if it’s the money I-”

“It’s not really the money, it’s a bonus cause,” she shrugged, “I don’t have any student loans. But it’s more than that to me. It’s my way of life, it’s how I’ve survived and how I… deal with things.” She made her way to the exit, Inuyasha following closely behind her. 

When they left, Kagome locked the door with a key from her bag. She turned to face him. “I think I’m going to head home, I need some sleep. Might skip classes tomorrow, depending on how my body is feeling.” 

“I’ll walk you home, streets aren’t safe at night.” He held up a hand to stop her from speaking. “Yes. I know. You can take care of yourself. But you  _ are  _ hurt, you could use the extra protection and I could use the company. Is that ok?”

She nodded, scuffling a foot against some gravel in the alley. “Sure. Come on.” She motioned with her head before making her way to the alley exit. They turned down the street, heading towards the water. She was glad she didn’t live too far. They made their way in awkward silence, reaching her apartment building in less than fifteen minutes and without incident. 

She turned to say goodnight to him, when he wrapped his arms around her in a gentle embrace. “You did scare me back there.” He whispered into her hair. “It was hard to stand by and watch someone hurt you.” Kagome bit her lip, tears forming in her eyes. “Kagome. Tell me something.”

“Ok.” She whispered.

“If you hate demons, why have you been spending this time with me?” He tensed as he waited for her response.

“I-I…” She blinked away the tears. “How about instead, you come up and I’ll tell you  _ why  _ I hate demons and we can leave it at that.”

Hesitating for a moment, Inuyasha sighed. It was better than nothing. “Ok.”

They made their way up to her small, cozy apartment. He took a seat out on her balcony, watching the dark edges of the ocean, waves calmly lapping in. She came out a short while later, wearing comfortable pajama bottoms and a pullover hoodie, carrying two mugs of steaming tea. She handed him one, before sitting down next to him. She sighed, looking out at the ocean and taking a sip of her tea. 

He waited patiently for her to begin, not wanting to change her mind. 

“My parents...They were murdered when I was four. Some business deal gone wrong or something. They came to our house in the middle of the night. Butchering both my father and my mother, right in front of me.” She sucked in a breath, recalling the sight. “They killed them, and left me behind, just standing there, sobbing in puddles of their blood. They were demons. I-I remember lying down next to mom, just thinking that maybe if I went to sleep, she would be shaking me awake in the morning. Except she didn’t. They were both dead. I was sent to an orphanage for a while before I was placed with a foster family, I didn’t talk for a few years apparently. And the doctors all say that they didn’t know why I was so traumatized, that I shouldn’t have even remembered the event, that I was too young. They were wrong.” She spoke the last line fiercely. “I  _ do  _ remember, I still see their bodies, the pools of blood, their open lifeless eyes, I see them when I sleep and even when I’m awake. It haunts me.” Her voice had died down to a whisper. “I’ve been terrified of demons ever since, it’s not that I hate them all per say. It’s that I don’t trust them, and I know that they hold the power, it’s terrifying. It’s also one of the reasons I fight. I’ve felt the need and urge to fight, to be stronger, to be better, ever since I was young. Demons...They don’t come easy for me.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. 

Inuyasha clutched his cup tightly, careful not to break it. “Kagome…” He whispered. He turned to face her, seeing her tears after hearing her words broke his heart. “I’m so sorry.” He wasn’t sure of the right words. He set his mug down on the ground by his feet, taking hers gently from her hands to set it beside his. When he faced her again, her face was hidden behind hands as her shoulders shook. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her into his chest, his other hand going around to fully embrace her as she buried her face into his sweater. Her muffled sobs stung his ears, and they wilted. A small whimper escaped his throat and she tensed in his arms. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

She sniffled. “No. It’s ok, I’m sorry.” She sat back, wiping at her face with the sleeve of her baggy hoodie. “Listen to me, poor Kagome. Woe is me.” She chuckled, leaning down to pick her tea back up, turning her gaze back to the ocean. “I’ll be ok, just tired and emotional.” After a moment she spoke again. “So now you know. Another reason to stay away. I’m totally broken.” A few fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. 

“Stop. Please.”

When Kagome looked at him, his eyes were clenched tightly closed, seeming to be holding something down. 

“Stop telling me to stay away. I want to be here, and I am here. Right now, with you. Because I want to be. If there ever, ever, comes a time when I don’t want to be beside you, I will tell you. Until then, that’s my decision and you should stop pushing me away, thinking that it’s what I should do or what I want to do. Unless you’re doing it because  _ you  _ don’t want  _ me  _ around, if that’s the case, then you should tell me.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. His words sounded so much like a plan for the future. “No, I want to be here with you.”

Inuyasha opened his eyes to look at her, a weak smile on his lips. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned back into him, tucking her legs up onto the seat beside her. She enjoyed his comfort and warmth for a while as they watched the waves. When her eyes began to droop, she cleared her throat, sitting up and away from him. She stood, facing the ocean and not him. “It’s getting late. If...If you don’t want to walk all the way back to your car and drive all the way home this late, you can sleep here tonight, if you want.” When he was silent she turned around, he was staring at her. “It’s ok if you don’t.” She said quickly.

“No, I’d like that.”

They got ready for bed together, taking turns showering. He was going to borrow a pair of her largest sweats, but even those were too small, sending Kagome into a fit of giggles when she saw him. Luckily they had remembered that he had left a pair of his own sweats there for movie nights. She supplied him with a spare toothbrush, and she offered him the couch, with a pillow from her bed and her extra comforter. He thanked her and spread himself out along the couch, almost too big for it. 

Going back to her room, she pulled off her hoodie slowly. She checked her side bruise in the full length mirror, it was going to be purple in the morning. She sighed, pulling her tank top back down. She climbed into bed, laying on her side, she stared at the far wall. Thinking about how he was out there, cramped up on that tiny couch. She laid there for an hour, unable to sleep, recalling some of their adventures together, when she sat up. Before she talked herself out of it, she made her way quietly into the living room, hoping to sneak a peek at him sleeping. 

“Kagome?” His voice called out. “Are you ok?” She saw him lean up to look towards her in the dark. 

“Yeah.” Her voice was a whisper, she didn’t know why she was whispering, the darkness made her feel like she should. “I was coming to check on you.”

“Shouldn’t that be my job?” He chuckled. 

She walked over to the edge of the couch. Heart racing, feeling completely nervous. “Ca-Can I lay with you?”

“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate. He turned on his side, and scooted back, lifting up the comforter, inviting her in. 

She wiggled her way under the covers, laying to face him, his one arm was tucked up under his pillow, and when she was settled against his chest he draped his other arm around her waist, pulling her in close. She snuggled her head into his chest. 

“I’m sorry if I woke you.” She whispered.

“You didn’t. I was awake.” 

“Oh.” 

They laid in silence for a while, Kagome enjoying his warmth and the safety of his arms. She reached up to take a strand of his hair, rubbing it between her fingers. It was soft. She hesitated, wondering if she should try doing the thing she had been itching to do since they’d met. Deciding to do it before she could chicken out, she reached her hand up, starting by gently running her hands through his hair a few times. When she reached back up for the third time, instead of reaching into his hair, she gently touched an ear, it flicked softly. She bit back a giggle, before beginning to rub it. 

A small moan escaped from him. It was so soft and he seemed to be enjoying it so she continued. His hand came up grabbing her wrist. “Kagome.” His voice was husky. “You need to stop that. My ears, they are...sensitive.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I hurt you?”

“Sensitive in  _ another  _ way Kagome.”

Oh. Ohhhhhhhhh. She blushed crimson and was glad it was dark in the room. But her heart began to race, as she thought about him getting turned on. He tensed, and her eyes went wide. 

_ He can freaking smell me. Oh my god!  _ If she could be any redder she would be. 

Feeling brave, she tried to push past her embarrassment. She reached her hand down, touching his hip briefly, pushing his shirt up a bit, to touch the skin underneath. When he didn’t stop her, she slid her hand up, running it along his abs. He was solid, and yet so comfortable. She tried to scoot a little closer, accidentally rubbing their hips together. She bit her lip, waiting for him to stop her. When he didn’t react she slid her hand back down to his hip again, rubbing a finger along his adonis belt. He sucked in a breath.

“Kagome.”

She looked up, trying to make out his features in the dark, sure he was going to request her go back to her room. Instead his arm pulled her tight against him again. Then he was leaning in close, she could feel his warm breath on her face, her heart rate increased, and her breath hitched. She could feel his growing hardness against her leg. When his lips pressed against hers, her eyes went wide and a flash of heat went through her body, her core beginning to ache. She closed her eyes and responded, pushing her lips back against his. Their kiss became more heated, his tongue lightly moving across her bottom lip, requesting entry before pushing into her mouth. She moaned, her heart and core throbbing. 

He reached down, grabbing her ass and pulling her hips into his, she bucked a bit into him. It was his turn to moan as she ground her hips into his. One hand reached up to stroke his ear, and he moaned louder this time. She could tell she was growing wet and knew she needed him badly. Without breaking the kiss she pushed herself up slightly, working her leg between him and the couch, encouraging him onto his back. When she was fully straddling him, she began to grind against him more forcefully, trying to help sate her own needs. 

He sat up, pulling her with him so she was sitting in his lap. Reaching an arm around her to help her move her hips against him. His lips moved from hers, travelling down her jaw, planting small kisses along the way. When he reached her neck, he began to lick and nip, when he reached the junction between neck and shoulder, he placed a tender kiss there. When Kagome reached down to take hold of the ends of his shirt, he pulled back, allowing her to pull the shirt up and over his head, tossing it off to the side. He returned the favor, tossing her top away from them, taking the back of her head and pulling her back down to his lips. She pushed her chest up against his, taking in his warmth and the firmness of his chest against hers. She let out a moan as his mouth traveled down her neck, moving across her chest to the other side. 

When he began moving lower, she pulled back, allowing him access. He braced her with one hand on her back, moving his tongue down to her breasts, slowly circling one nipple. He scraped his fangs softly against it, and she bit her lip. Her skin erupting in gooseflesh and a shudder coursing through her body. She drew in a shaky breath as he took the nipple into his mouth, sucking. Grinding against him, she ran her hands down along his arms, feeling his tight biceps. He pulled back, leaning up to capture her lips with his. Moaning she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close. 

Wrapping an arm around her waist, he hooked the other under her leg, standing from the couch and taking her with him. He took a few steps, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist, when he tripped on their discarded shirts. He stumbled a bit, and Kagome let out a small squeal. He spun making sure he was the one who slammed back against the wall. She let out a small giggle, pushing her lips back to his, feeling him smile against her lips. He turned to rest her up against the wall. She loved the feeling of the firmness of his body pushing her up against it, moaning she took his bottom lip in between her teeth, biting down lightly. He pulled his lip free and let out a low husky growl. 

He moved, carrying her towards the direction of her room. He bent slowly, crawling up onto the bed before pressing her down into it. She unwrapped her legs, sliding them slowly down his. The moonlight shining in through her window allowed her enough light to see him. She took in his features, moving her hands up to cradle his face, her thumbs moving across his cheeks, she felt the prickle of tears forming in her eyes. She shook her head slightly, leaning up to kiss him again. 

He pressed himself down onto her, one hand running down her side. When she broke the kiss and hissed out a breath, he faltered. Pulling back to look over her. Seeing and remembering the large bruise forming on her side. “I’m sorry.” He said uneasily. “I forgot, just got too caught up.”

“It’s ok, I’ll be fine.” She hesitated. “Please don’t stop.”

He scooted down so his face was over her side. He glanced at her, while running his tongue across the entirety of her side. Her eyes went wide at the sensuality of the eye contact, but let out a little gasp as he did it again and the throbbing in her side eased. He gave it one more pass. “I can’t fix it or make it go away, but I can help with the pain, for a little while anyways.” 

She bit down on her lip, blushing. “Thank you.” She whispered. 

“I think I know a way to help with a distraction as well.” With that he hooked two fingers on the edge of her pants, slowly pulling them down her legs.

Her heart pounded, as the pants left her feet to be tossed to the floor. He ran his claws gently across the insides of her thighs and she shuddered. Leaning down he trailed kisses across one knee, moving up her thigh to her hip, he nipped at it, causing her to buck up against him at the tingling it sent through her. He reached for her panties, looking up at her, waiting to see if she would object. When she didn’t he slowly peeled them down her soft thighs, finishing pulling them off with one hand and dropping them off to the side somewhere. He moved back up to kiss her again, leaning over her with one arm propping himself up. The other travelling down her body, exploring, stopping to caress her thigh. He stopped, ending the kiss and leaning his forehead against hers, eyes closed.

“Inuyasha? Is everything ok?” 

He let out a breath. “Yes.” Was his shaky reply. “I ju-just haven’t done this in a long time.”

Her eyes scanned his face, his eyes were still closed and he looked conflicted. “You mean you're nervous?” She asked in a whisper. 

He chuckled slightly. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

She reached up, cupping his face with one hand. “Me too.”

His eyes opened, the pools of honey meeting her chocolate ones. He pressed his lips to hers in a brief kiss before pulling back and sticking two fingers into his mouth. He bit down and there was a snap, and then another. He pulled his fingers back out and spit off to the side. “Claws.” He responded to her questioning look, holding up his fingers to show her his now trimmed nails. 

She fought a smirk, pulling him in for another kiss. His hand travelled back down her body, scratching up against her thigh. He stopped at her entrance, thumb moving to make small circles against her clit. She moaned, reaching one hand up to grasp at the pillow under her. He positioned his two fingers, slowly pushing them inside. She closed her eyes tight, fighting another shudder. When he froze she let out a gust of a breath and opened her eyes. 

“Wha-”

“Kagome.” She looked down at him, his eyes were closed and his head hung. “Have you never been with anyone before?” His voice was so low she almost didn’t hear him.

She flushed, biting down on her lip. Shaking her head she whispered, “No. I haven’t.” Tears of embarrassment stung at her eyes.

He let out a quiet, choked sigh, pulling his hand free. “Kagome. Are you sure you want to do this with me?”

She was quiet for a few moments, he silently waited for her reply. “Yes.” She finally breathed out. “I’m positive. This is what I want.”

“Look at me.” 

She opened her eyes and he was leaning over her, studying her face. She reached up, pulling his face closer, looking into his conflicted eyes. “I’m sure. This is what I want, I want you.” She pulled him in for a kiss, and when he returned it she felt the fire in her core begin to build again. He broke the kiss, reaching down to tug his pants down, his boxer briefs came with them. When he sprung free, Kagome looked away, blushing, nervous and embarrassed. He was huge, his whole body the perfect image of a man. 

He moved down between her legs, he pressed slow, soft kisses to the inside of her thigh. She sucked in a breath when she scraped his fangs along the span of her thigh. And blushed furiously when he stuck his nose in her curls, sniffing deeply. 

“You smell intoxicating.” He stuck his tongue out and ran it along the length of her slit. Her legs tensed and her core clenched. He pushed his tongue inside of her, tasting her and her breath hitched in her throat. When his lips were suddenly on her clit, sucking, a loud moan escaped her. His tongue moved in circles around her clit as he continued to suck. The feeling was too new, too good, and the thought and sight of Inuyasha doing it was too much for her and she came instantly. Her hand grasping into her pillow and her back arching off the bed as she cried out her climax. As she gasped for breath his tongue was inside of her again, tasting her fresh release and he moaned. 

She was blushing uncontrollably when he climbed up between her legs, positioning himself at her entrance. He leaned down and kissed her briefly, before pulling back and looking her in the eyes. “Ready?”

She nodded and braced herself, her heart pounding. He lifted one of her legs slightly, spreading her a little more open for him. He pushed in slowly, and she hissed in a breath as she was stretched. He paused, waiting for her to adjust before pushing in a little further and stopping again. He suddenly pressed his lips roughly against hers, right as he thrust himself fully inside. She let out a muffled cry around his mouth. He pulled away from the kiss. She took a few deep breaths trying to adjust to herself being stretched around him. He waited for her, planting small kisses on her neck. 

When she wiggled slightly under him, he took it as a sign that she was ready. He slowly pulled out, still holding her bent leg up. He thrust himself back in, carefully watching her face for any signs to stop. He repeated this before she nodded with her eyes closed. “I’m ok. Keep going.”

With that he began to thrust with more vigor, slowly building up his speed until she opened her eyes. She reached up and tugged on his hair, bringing him back down to kiss her while he continued to pound into her. She moaned into his mouth, her core clenching around him. He moved his kiss to her neck, licking and sucking there before nipping. She let out a small cry, squeezing him again. When he felt her orgasm beginning to build again, he reached one hand down between them to begin rubbing circles on her clit, his fangs scraping on her neck before leaning up to whisper in her ear. 

“Let go, Kagome.”

With hearing his words in tandem with his movements, she felt a rising heat and feeling coarse through her, her core beginning to tighten. Her legs began to quiver and she burst, unable to contain the overwhelming pressure inside her any longer. She dug nails into his arm, as her back arched and she let out a loud moan, crying out her pleasure, the waves crashing through her. 

As she came undone around him, he felt his own approach coming. Seeing her in ecstasy under him was too much for him, as he thrust deeper inside her tight wetness, his release came. His cum poured into her, as he growled his pleasure into the crevice of her neck. He nipped her again, thrusting deep and hard a few more times, as she squeezed the last of what he had out of him. 

Collapsing on top of her, panting, he moaned before remembering himself, and propping his weight off of her. He pressed his lips to hers in a tender kiss, her arms coming up to wrap around his neck, holding him close. They both pulled away gasping for air. When their eyes met she felt her heart clench, the tears fighting to come back. She blinked them back before blushing up at him. 

“Sorry if I was...boring?” She said to him.

He chuckled at her, wrapping an arm behind her as he sat up, pulling her with him. She wrapped her legs around him, sitting in his lap. He scooted off the bed, rising, still carrying her and still inside of her. “You. Are never boring.” He kissed her as he made his way towards the bathroom. “Now let’s get you cleaned up.” 

He turned the water on in the shower, one arm still wrapped around her to hold her up. When he caught her staring at him he smiled. “What?”

She looked into his eyes, whispering, “I like you.” 

He tilted his head, raising a brow and looking confused. “I like you too.”

He checked the temperature before giving her a peck on the lips and pulling the curtain back enough to step inside. She unwrapped her legs and he set her down, sliding out of her. Her legs shook slightly and she grabbed for his arm. He steadied her. “You ok?”

“Yeah.” She chuckled. “Just feel… different I guess.” She felt his cum running down her leg and blushed, looking away from him. She stepped away from him, plunging herself under the water, before yelping and instantly jumping out of the stream. “Wow, that’s hot!”

Inuyasha dashed forward to adjust the nobs. “Sorry, was a little distracted when testing the water.” He gave her a look. 

She stuck her tongue out at him, “Guess it’s my fault then.”

He smirked, shrugging at her, “Guess so.”

She scoffed at him, jaw dropping. “What? You’re crazy.” She playfully pushed him towards the water. 

He took a step back, chuckling, before stepping into the water, raising his hands to get the water through his hair. When he looked at her she was biting her lip, admiring him. “Like what you see?”

She rolled her eyes but stepped up to him. “If I did, I wouldn’t tell you, your ego doesn’t need any more fuel.” She stood on her tiptoes reaching up to run her fingers through his wet hair, her breasts pressed against his chest. She switched from his hair to his ears, rubbing them gently. He moaned, bending down to nibble on her earlobe, hands slowly sliding down her body to her hips, he grasped them tightly, thrusting them against his. 

When she felt his hardness she pulled back to look, his cock still hard. Looking back at him with a raised brow. He glanced down at himself, looking up and shrugging at her. “It...It will stay like that for a while.” Was his comment on it. 

She bit her lip and wiggled her brows. “Maybe we should make use of it then.”

“Mmmm.” He took her lips with his briefly before spinning her around, pressing her back to his chest. He moved her hair off her neck to drape down the other side. He pulled them both under the stream of water, bending to kiss her neck. One hand still wrapped around her waist and the other running along her body. He reached up to play with one of her nipples, giving it a firm pinch. 

She let out a moan, reaching one hand back to put it on the back of his head, giving him better access and to keep his lips on her. His hand wandered down, passed her navel, through her short curls and to her slit. He began rubbing circles on her clit. She let out a gasping moan, her legs shaking, her clit still sensitive from her previous orgasm. She panicked a little, thinking her legs wouldn’t support her. His arm grasped tighter around her. 

“You’re ok, I’ve got you.” He whispered in her ear. 

She shuddered, enjoying the feeling of the hot water running over them, the rush of his breath in her ear, the feeling of his fingers on her sensitive clit, and the comfort of his arm tightly around her. Acknowledgement of all of this made her orgasm come quickly and easily. She gasped as her legs shook and the pleasure crashed through her, she cried out, grasping at his arm, nails digging in, trying to find anything to help control the release. She panted slightly for breath. 

He spun her around, pressing and holding her flush against him, face close to hers, a low rumble in his chest. “Kagome. I want… need to take you again.” His voice was low and filled with restraint. 

She wrapped her arms around his neck before jumping up and wrapping her legs around his waist. “Good. Cause I want you to.” She grinned at him. 

He growled hungrily. He pushed her up against the wall before reaching down to place himself at her entrance. He slammed up into her and she let out a cry. Growling again he began pounding up into her, the steaming water flowing over them. She moaned as her hands moved to his shoulders, helping to support herself against his aggressive thrusts. A low growl was coming from him as he leaned forward to nip at her neck, she arched her back in response, exposing her neck more easily to him. Her moans and his growls echoed on the shower walls, almost drowning out the sound of the water. For a moment she thought she saw his eyes glow red and she gasped, but when she looked at him again, golden eyes met hers and he pressed his lips to hers. He continued to pound up into her as this tongue danced across hers, her moans lost into his mouth. 

He adjusted one of her legs that was wrapped around him, and suddenly his thrusts were deeper, hitting something inside of her that curled her toes. “God, Inuyasha.” She moaned out. She felt something building inside of her, different this time than before, but just as good. 

“Kagome.” He moaned out. “I can’t hold off much longer. Can you cum with me?” His voice was low. His eyes looking intently into hers. 

She stared into his golden orbs. “Yes.” She said breathily. “Tell me to do it.”

“Gods Kagome.” He clenched his eyes tightly closed, almost losing himself at her words. He thrust again, opening his eyes to look at her. Taking in her hair sticking to the wall, water running down her neck and between the valley of her breasts, her skin flushed, her face showing her pleasure for him. He sped up his pace. When he was ready he spoke around gritted teeth. “Cum for me. Let go baby.” 

She clenched around him, gasping, her walls beginning to quiver, her toes curling, her hands burying themselves in his hair, as she let out a cry. Her core throbbed around him and he let himself go. Thrusting deep inside of her and letting out a primal snarl as he spilled inside of her. He continued to thrust, milking himself fully with her quivering body. He leaned forward, resting his head against her shoulder, taking deep breaths, a shudder coursing through him. When she put her head down onto his shoulder, he stepped away from the wall, moving one arm to wrap around her waist, the other reaching up to hold her head to him. He crouched down, moving to sit down in the tub. 

Kagome pulled back to look at him, panting slightly still. “How do you feel so good?”

He smiled at her, pecking her on the lips. “Perfect fit.”

She grinned back, blushing. “Yeah.”

They finished actually showering before taking turns toweling each other off. Next they took turns with Kagome’s brush. Kagome quickly braided her damp tendrils before tying it off, Inuyasha tying his up into a bun, and Kagome smirked at him. They made their way back into her room and both collapsed on the bed with a sigh. Inuyasha pulled the covers up over them before pulling her to him, spooning her. 

“I-” Kagome started to say. “Thank you, for being so understanding about everything today.”

“Kagome, I’ll do everything in my power to try to always be understanding. I’ll be here for you, always.”

Tears stung her eyes, and she wiped at them, hoping he wouldn’t notice. But when she felt his body relax, and his breathing changed to a slow and steady rhythm, she glanced back at him. He was sleeping. She turned her body to face him, gently touching his cheek, checking to make sure he was really asleep. When he didn’t stir she tucked her head under his chin and snuggled into his chest. 

“I love you.” She whispered. A few tears spilling out before she too fell into sleep. 


	5. Chapter 5

The sun beat down through the window, hitting Kagome in the face. She blinked her eyes open, squinting at the light and moving an arm to block it. She reached behind her but felt nothing. She sat up, turning quickly. He was gone. She looked around her room, his clothes weren’t there. She climbed from the bed, going to her dresser and pulling out a pair of panties. She pulled them on quickly before grabbing her robe off the back of her bedroom door. Thrusting her arms into the robe as she made her way into the living room. The comforter on the couch was folded up with the pillow resting on top. And Inuyasha wasn’t there. She sighed, plopping herself onto the couch. Biting her lip, fighting the tears. 

She stood, deciding to make some tea and skip classes for the day. It was when she was passing the island that separated the kitchen and the living room that she noticed the paper coffee cup sitting there. It still had steam coming from it and it was sitting on top of a note. She lifted the cup to her nose and sniffed, hazelnut latte. She picked up the note reading it quickly, and then again more slowly. Inuyasha explained that he had to run but that he would call her later that day to make plans for the evening. 

She grinned, taking a sip of the latte.  _ He must’ve left not that long ago, the coffee is still pretty warm.  _ She snagged her laptop from the coffee table and made her way back to her room, deciding to snuggle up under the covers and watch Netflix.

* * *

It had been three days and Inuyasha still hadn’t called. She had resisted calling him after not hearing from him the first day and she’d be damned if she would cave and call him now. She threw a few more punches at the bag in frustration, she had spent the past two days almost nonstop at the training gym. The ring serving as a gym during the daytime. She wiped some of the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. She sighed, wishing she could push him from her mind, she sped up her punches, trying to come at the bag from different angles. 

“There she is. The mutt-lover.” Kagome heard a girl's voice behind her. She turned, looking to see who it was and who they were talking about. There was a group of three girls, standing together looking at Kagome. 

“What did you say?”

“You heard me. You and that dirty hanyou have been fucking and it’s disgusting. We shouldn’t have to put up with smelling you. You should go.” The demon girl was clearly the leader of the two humans, she crossed her arms, glaring at Kagome. 

“I’ll give you one chance to shut the fuck up and get out of here.” Kagome said through gritted teeth, adjusting the wraps on her hands. 

“We aren’t the ones fucking an abomination.  _ You’re  _ the one that should leave.” 

Kagome sighed before moving towards the group. When she was close enough she pounced, swinging out towards the demon, who dodged out of the way, laughing. Kagome turned, kicking out her leg, landing a blow on the girl’s stomach. The demon was pushed back, gasping. The two human girls moved in, trying to grab at Kagome. Kagome swung out, hitting one in the face, pulling back away from the other girl to swing at the one she had landed a blow on. She hit her again on the other cheek. Kagome was tackled to the ground by the demon, who pinned her down as the two human girls came up and began kicking her in the sides, the demon swinging at her face. Kagome raised her arms to protect her head. She moved one arm across her face, so her other arm was free to swing at the demon, she landed a blow on her side. She punched and landed again. The demon got a fist past Kagome’s arm, hitting her mouth, she felt her lip split, blood welting up. 

Kagome gasped for air, totally pinned down.  _ So stupid, three on one, what was I thinking _ . She cursed herself.

When one of the girls landed a well placed kick in her injured side, Kagome coughed, allowing the demon to get around her again, a fist landing on her cheekbone. Kagome closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to get under control. Then she sneezed, her tiny, cute little sneeze. The flecks of gold in her left eye bled, completely filling the iris. Kagome’s eyes shot open, and she gasped. Reaching forward, she grabbed both the demon’s wrists at once before sitting forward quickly to smash the girls face with her head. The demon fell backward and Kagome dropped the wrists, bringing a leg up and around her to kick the demon all the way off her. She turned to her side, grabbing one of the kicking feet and yanking it toward her, pulling the girl off her feet and hitting the concrete with a sickening thud. The other human backed up slightly, and Kagome was able to roll to her feet. She turned glaring at the other human. 

“Get the fuck out!” She hissed at her. The girl turned and ran. Kagome turned back to the demon right as she was climbing to her feet.

“You bitch.” 

“How dare you say those things.” Kagome spit blood to the side. “When I’m done with you, you won’t be able to say anything at all.”

“Good luck, mutt-lover.” The demon girl charged her. 

* * *

Inuyasha drove in silence, too nervous for music, he was heading towards Kagome’s. He’d felt guilty for not calling her but had been trying to sort through his thoughts and feelings. He  _ knew _ that he loved this Kagome for being herself, not because she had the face of the one he had loved before. When his phone rang, he reached into his pocket for it. Hoping it was Kagome, he had hoped she would call when he hadn’t called her, but knew that it was best not to call her until he had sorted through his feelings and had decided what to do about it. 

The number on the screen was not one he recognized, he answered it. “Hello?”

“Inuyasha?” It was the bug-eyed man, Totosai’s voice. “Inuyasha is that you?”

“Yes, how did you get this number?”

“Nevermind that. If you can you need to get to the gym right now.” The man sounded like he was running. The sound of a door squeaking open and then Kouga’s voice came through the line. “Kagome! Stop!” 

“Now.” Totosai’s voice was serious before the line died. 

“Fuck.” Inuyasha cursed before speeding up and taking a turn at the end of the block. He parked the car, climbing out quickly, deciding it was faster at this point to run rather than drive. He bolted.

* * *

Kagome heard Kouga’s voice but didn’t register the words. The demon girl dove at her again, grasping Kagome around the waist, both of them falling to the ground. Kagome’s legs instantly wrapped around the girl, holding her close. It was hard to get a good swing in when so close. The girl was trapped for now, Kagome took advantage. She punched at the girls ears, landing a few blows before the girl’s arm came up to block it. Kagome grabbed the arm, twisting the wrist so roughly that it popped, a scream came from the girl. Kagome brought her legs around, to kick the girl away from her. The demon flew back, but rolled to her feet, cradling her wrist. 

Kouga took the opportunity to grab Kagome from behind, holding both of her arms back. “Kagome enough!” The sound of a door opening caught everyone’s attention. Inuyasha came dashing in.

“Oh look, the mutt’s here.” The demon girl sneered. 

Kagome growled, pulling against Kouga’s arms but he held firm. “Shut up!” Kagome screamed at her. “Let go Kouga.” She yanked again.

“No, Kagome, calm down.”

“Yeah human, obey.” The girl snarled.

Kagome growled again, she yanked on her arms trying to free them. When she failed, she tried again, this time she kicked both her legs up, when they fell back down to the ground she crouched, throwing Kouga off of her. She jumped over him and bolted at the demon girl. Kagome tackled her to the ground, pinning her down, one leg pinning each of her arms down. Kagome swung at the girl’s face. Pounding into her face over and over with her fists, blood began to spray to either side. Kagome was yanked up and off the girl, her arms being held back again, she kicked her legs trying to get free. 

“Kagome.” The calm voice of Inuyasha whispered in her ear.

Tears instantly filled her eyes at the sound of his voice. She relaxed and sniffled. “Fine. I’m done.” She tugged her arms free, and he let her go. She stepped up to the demon girl still laying on the floor, her face was hardly recognizable, and only one eye was open. Kagome gritted her teeth, glaring at her. “If I  _ EVER  _ see you in here again, you won’t be leaving this building still breathing.” She stepped over the girl, heading towards the locker room. 

Totosai was helping the demon girl up when Inuyasha spoke, turning to Kouga. “What the fuck is going on?” Seeing the human girl lying unconscious on the ground. 

Kouga sighed. “Some girl came to get Totosai and I was there. Apparently the three girls came up to Kagome and started shit talking.”

“What could they possibly have said to set her off like that?”

Kouga gave him a look that said ‘you’re stupid.’ “They called her a mutt-lover. And said that fucking a dirty hanyou was disgusting, and they shouldn’t have to smell her around here.” He moved to check on the other girl. “She’s been upset for days, whatever is going on between you two, fix it. Now.”

Inuyasha sighed, shaking his head. He’d dealt with being half demon his whole life, not everyone cared but some did. He hated that Kagome had been caught up in it. He made his way to the locker room to look for her. 

When he went in through the door, it was dark. The lights were out but with his vision he spotted Kagome sitting in the corner, she had her knees bent up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, her head rested on her knees and her shoulders shook. The smell of her salty tears hit him in the gut. He made his way over to her, he sat down next to her and she tensed. “Kagome. What’s going on?”

She sniffled, not raising her head. “Inuyasha, it’s been days. Why are you here?”

He hesitated. “I’m sorry, I just needed to sort some things out. I was on my way to see you when Totosai called. I’m sorry those girls were saying those things to you. That wasn’t fair.”

“No. What they said wasn’t fair, they have no right to say those things about you.” Her voice was angry. 

“Kagome, would you look at me, please.”

She tilted her head slightly, turning her face towards him. “Can you even see in here?”

“A little.” He studied her, she smelled like blood and sweat. When she moved a light from the hallway shone across her face, revealing her still golden eye. “Kagome, why is your eye gold?”

She turned her face away quickly. “I don’t know, it just… does that sometimes.”

“Would you be ok with going somewhere with me? I want to show you something.”

Her heart began to pound. She wanted to say no. “Let me get washed up and change.” She moved to stand, but he beat her to it, standing and reaching down to help her up. 

When she was standing in front of him, he took her face between his hands, trying to see her face clearly in the dark. Blood was splattered across her face, and a trail led from her lip to her chin. He could see a few fresh bruises beginning to form. He frowned, whimpering slightly. Hearing him whimper caused a few fresh tears to roll down her cheeks. He leaned forward and gently licked the split in her lip. 

She took hold of one of his wrists. “Inuyasha.” She whispered. 

He leaned forward, tenderly kissing her forehead before moving to pull her into a tight hug. They stood, holding each other for a few moments before she stepped back. “Let me go wash up, then we can go.” She said quietly. 

“Ok, I’m going to go grab the car, I jumped out and ran here after that phone call.”

She nodded and held back a smile, grabbing the bag near the wall, she went through the door to the showers. 

* * *

They had ridden in almost awkward silence, Kagome feeling nervous. When they pulled into a suburb area she paled. Her heart began to race and her palms were suddenly sweaty. 

_ No, no, no. Not yet, I’m not ready. _

When they turned down a street and she spotted the cul-de-sac she began to panic. 

_ I can’t do this.  _

He pulled up into a driveway of a grey two story home, he parked in front of the garage doors, turning to her. 

“Your house?” She squeaked out.

“Yes.” He chuckled. “Why are you so nervous? I’ve been to your place many times.”

“That’s different.” She whispered, wide eyed, not looking at him but staring straight ahead at the house. It  _ was  _ beautiful. 

“How? Come on.” He patted her leg before climbing from the car. 

_ Because she’s not at my place.  _

Kagome exited the car, taking a deep breath before closing the door, following him up to the front door. When he unlocked the door and swung it open, he motioned for her to go in. She stepped inside, swallowing at the lump forming in her throat.  _ Oh, God. _

She ventured inside, going into the living room on the left. She wandered around the room, running her hands along the surfaces of everything, taking it all in. She was so wrapped up in studying everything that the sound of Inuyasha’s voice startled her.

“Can we sit and talk for a sec?” She turned towards him, he was holding a small box in his hands.

“Sure.” She sat down on the couch. He joined her, sitting close, setting the box on the table. 

“I have something important to tell you, and I hope you’ll hear me out. It’s why I’ve needed to take a few days to think about things.”

Kagome cleared her throat. “O-ok.” Her voice cracking.

Inuyasha took a deep breath before letting it out. “I was married before, her name was Kagome. We were together for a long time, and she got sick and passed away. That was...a long time ago.” He sighed, reaching to lift the lid from the box. “I want you to take a look at a photo for me.” He reached inside.

Kagome clenched her eyes tight. Trying to slow her heart.

“Here.”

When she opened her eyes, he was handing her a photo. She took the photo from him with shaky fingers. When she looked at it, tears stung her eyes. There they were, Inuyasha and the other Kagome, standing together smiling, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. She sat there, staring at the photo, willing the tears not to fall. She really was her spitting image, an exact duplicate, other than the streak in her hair. “How long has it been since she died?” She whispered.

“It’s been about twenty-eight years...Wait, that’s your reaction to hearing that and seeing this photo?” His voice was shocked. “Why are you not having more of a reaction? Can’t you see that you guys look like you’re the same person, even your name is the same! Kagome, wha-”

Kagome jumped up from the couch. “Because I already knew!” She yelled at him. Taking a few strides away from him, she turned to face him. “When I was younger, I used to think I was seeing myself in the future, happy. But then I realized it wasn’t me, just someone who looked like me. But the feelings were there, I didn’t just see parts of your lives, I lived them. I felt her feelings, her emotions, her sadness or anger, her regrets, and her love. It was constant, I would have flashes or dreams. I’ve been a wreck from the start, and not entirely because of all that, how do you think it was for me? Growing up, living two lives?! Sometimes I wasn’t sure which parts were me and which were parts of her. Sometimes I’m still not sure… It’s unbelievably hard to know what is the real me and what is coming from her.” The tears were flowing now.

Inuyasha sat, staring at her. “That sounds…”

“Crazy?” She practically screamed at him. She had been dreading this conversation since the first day they met. “You need more proof, fine. Kagome was a kindergarten teacher, she used to call Rin dinosaur. Sesshomaru, your brother, is Rin’s dad and an attorney, he wrote your will for you when Kagome was in the hospital. Your father, Touga and your mother, Izayoi visited in the hospital, and was there with Kagome just hours before she died. Kagome’s doctor was named Kaede and you guys loved her. You first told Kagome you loved her when you were at a carnival in the ferris wheel, you two had sex afterwards. You took  _ forever  _ to tell her you loved her, you used to walk her home from school every day. And you made love to her in the hospital after she told you about delaying her treatment.” She paused trying to catch her breath. “Do you need more? I have plenty.” She gestured wildly with her hands. “I have lived all of these moments, every moment you  _ ever _ spent with her, I have lived it.” She said around clenched teeth. “For a while I hated both of you. It was ruining my life. It was constant, nonstop, I would be in the middle of a test at school and BAM! vision of your lives. The feeling of hating you both was nice because at least I knew that that was what  _ I  _ was feeling. But it didn’t last, it couldn’t, her emotions flooded me every time. When I don’t fight it, it’s easier, trying to distinguish is hard, it gets harder every time.” She sighed, bringing up a hand to cover her face as the sobs started. 

Inuyasha gaped at her, so stunned he couldn’t move. “You knew?” He breathed out. “You already knew who I was when we met. That's why you didn’t care that I was a demon, you already knew everything about me. Why didn’t you say anything or tell me?” 

She wiped at the tears, setting the photo on the table. “I love you. I wanted to see if my feelings were my own or hers. I also wanted to see how long you would keep it from me. And I wanted to see if you liked me for me, or because I look like her and you would do anything to be with her again.”

“And...are those feelings yours or hers?” He whispered.

“Are your feelings for me or are you drawn to me because you want to be with her again?” She countered. She sighed. “Look, this has been… Very difficult for me, I didn’t know who you guys were, I didn’t know if you were even still around, I didn’t even know how many years it’s been since she died. I’ve never seen anything that’s happened after her passing. I never expected to meet you, I didn’t even know if you guys were real or just in my head. When we met, it was the most earth shattering experience for me, and then you wouldn’t leave me alone. I tried to push you away because it was so scary that I didn’t know how to deal with it. I tried to be my own person and meeting you, it felt like… Like I needed to be her. I never wanted to have this conversation with you.”

“So she  _ is  _ in there somewhere.” 

She gaped at him. “That’s all you have to say? No. She’s not in here!” Kagome was growing angry. “I. Am. Not. Her. I’m  _ me! _ ” Kagome ran from the room, pulling the door open and dashing down the road, quickly turning to weave around a house. Cutting across a yard to the next road. Her mind was racing. 


	6. Chapter 6

_ I don’t know if he’s following me but if he is he’ll catch me. I need to find a way to cut off his trail.  _

Her phone rang, pulling her from her thoughts. She pulled it from her pocket, and glanced at the screen. “Shit.” Inuyasha’s name flashed across. She hit ignore before unlocking her phone and calling Kouga. She was still running, eyes scanning around, looking for any source of water. When Kouga picked up, she asked him to go to her place and grab some of her things, and if he would pick her up somewhere. After they agreed on a nearby meeting spot, she ended the call. Slowing slightly to catch her breath, she glanced behind her, not spotting him. 

_ He could be following me and I wouldn’t even know it. _ Tears flowed freely.  _ He doesn’t want me, he wants  _ **_her_ ** _. I was stupid, this whole thing was stupid, I should’ve done everything I could to stay away from him, I should’ve tried harder. I  _ **_knew_ ** _ this was going to end this way.  _

Her phone rang again, she glanced before hitting ignore. When she spotted a cluster of trees she bolted for them, hoping to at least get out of sight. She jogged through the trees for a few minutes, listening for any sounds behind her. When she heard the sound of gently flowing water she sighed in relief. Dashing towards the sound she was met with a small creek. She jumped down the small bank and into the water, beginning to jog down it’s length, in the general direction she was supposed to meet Kouga. After about ten minutes when she thought she had travelled far enough in the water, she crossed to the other side, jogging, searching for the edge of the woods. She emerged from the woods and was met with the back of some buildings. Making her way around them, she looked for a street sign, not recognizing where she was. Her phone rang again, she sighed looking at it. She clenched her teeth, staring at the screen, before hitting ignore. She hated her urge to answer it, to hear his voice. 

She spotted a street sign, Elm. She walked quickly, glancing around for the signs of a bus stop or anything. Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Kouga letting her know that he was leaving her place. She texted back and let him know that she might not make it to the meeting spot but to head that direction and she would let him know where she was. She finally spotted a sign for a bus and ran up to glance at the posted stop schedule, the next bus was in twenty minutes. She couldn’t wait that long. She sighed, covering her eyes with her hands, she was exhausted. After all the extra training and the fight with that demon, and the emotional slap she had just taken, she felt she could sleep for days. 

She spotted a kid, unlocking his bike from a rack and ran over to him. She explained that she really needed transportation and couldn’t wait for the bus, when he gave her a skeptical look, she pulled a hundred out of her pocket and offered it to him in exchange for the bike. With wide eyes, he snatched the money from her and took off, leaving the bike behind. She thanked the gods and hopped on, peddling quickly away from the direction she had come. Her phone buzzed, expecting it was Kouga she looked, nope, it was a voicemail from Inuyasha. She put her phone away. When she spotted some taller buildings she sighed grateful, knowing she would be able to better tell where she was. She peddled for ten minutes before reaching the first one, stopping as she hopped off the bike, looking up at the building, a bank. Great. The name of the street was carved below the numbers of the building. Sighing, she shot off a text to Kouga with the new address. She plugged the address into maps and checked how far it was from her house. Twenty minutes. Meaning Kouga should be there soon.

She leaned the bike up against the building and slid herself down the wall, resting on the ground beside it. She pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She just wanted this day to be over. She hated herself, she had always hated herself. Feeling like two people left a person broken, unsure, and lost. Wishing she had her music to drown out the world she glanced at her phone, he was calling again. Ignore. 

_ He can’t lose her again. He needs me because I’m a connection to her. If I wasn’t plagued with parts of her, I might not have even cared about all of it, if he told me about her... I might’ve accepted it. He makes me happy and I know that  _ **_I_ ** _ love him, but he doesn’t love  _ **_me_ ** _. He loves her.  _

“Kagome!” Kouga’s voice interrupted her thoughts and she jerked her head up, he was leaning over to the passenger side to yell for her out the window. She smiled and stood, leaving the bike behind. She climbed into the passenger side and shut the door, breathing out the biggest sigh of relief. 

He pulled away from the curb. “What the fuck is going on?” 

Kagome stared out the window. “He took me to his house, and told me about his wife.”

“Wait, seriously, he did? What happened? Why aren’t you lying in his arms right now planning your future?”’

“Because. I told him the truth, Kouga.” She whispered. Her phone rang again, this time she turned it off. 

“Why would you do that? You’re crazy, you love him, he would be with you ya know.” 

The tears were back and she was surprised she had any left. “He deserved to know. And I deserve to have the person I’m with love me, not someone else. And I don’t think he loves me, he loves the idea that I look like her. I can’t blame him, their love and connection was so strong, I know he would give anything in this life to have her again.” 

“Oh. Kagome.” Kouga reached over and took one of her hands, giving it a light squeeze. “I love you, and it’ll be ok.”

When they made it to Kouga’s place she immediately went to the spare bedroom, tossing the duffel of what Kouga had grabbed on the bed. She unzipped it, looking inside, on top sat her headphones and she sighed gratefully. She pulled them out and set them on her night stand. There were some general clothes and a handful of underwear, her laptop and charger, her shampoo, her workout clothes and shoes. And thankfully, her pjs. She pulled these out, tossing the bag to the floor. She kicked off her shoes and pulled off her damp socks. She stripped down, pulling on her comfy pjs before crawling into the bed. Just needing to sleep.

She reached up to grab the charger and plugged her phone in, setting it on the stand. The screen lit up, sighing that it had decided to turn back on when she plugged it in she glanced at it. Twenty missed calls, three voicemails, and twelve texts, all from Inuyasha. She flipped her phone over, not wanting to look at it. She snuggled deeper into the bed, pulling the covers tightly around herself. The tension in her body eased slightly and she closed her eyes. The image of Inuyasha came to her, she opened them again. She rolled onto her side, trying again. There he was, behind her eyelids. She squeezed her eyes tighter, trying to force him away. All that came was more tears, turns out she had a lot of them left. She laid there, crying for hours, until her body was too exhausted to do anything else but drift off into an uneasy sleep. 

The next few days Kagome spent most of in bed, trying to push Inuyasha from her mind. It wasn’t working, her waking hours were plagued with recollections of  _ her  _ times with him, meeting for the first time, falling in love, getting married. And her dreams were filled with her own times with him, going dancing, binging movies while talking through them the whole time, and making love. She didn’t get much sleep and was thoroughly exhausted. 

Every evening Kouga would come into the room with a giant bowl of popcorn and glasses of wine, they’d turn on old black and white movies and watch, snuggled in bed, shoulder to shoulder. He’d hug her and tell her everything would work out ok when she’d cry, and he’d stay until she fell asleep. 

After a week had passed she decided she needed to get off her ass and get some practice in. Luckily Kouga had a small training area in the yard, with a punching bag hanging from a tree. She took a small jog through the woods to get the blood flowing and then moved on to the punching bag. She tried to work out her aggression and sadness. She had no idea how much time passed before she was interrupted by Kouga. 

“Finally out of bed I see.” He strolled over to her. Moving to stand behind the bag, he held it steady for her. 

She threw a few more punches. “Yeah, the match is in a week, I don’t know what I was thinking, I don’t have time for all this drama. Laying around getting fat on popcorn.” She scoffed at herself. “What’s up? Why are you home so early?” She glanced at him before throwing a kick at the bag.

“Inuyasha came to see me at the gym today.”

Kagome hesitated for a moment before throwing another punch. “Ok.”

“He looked like shit. He knows you're staying here.”

She stopped, straightening to look at him. “What?”

“Well I assume he was there looking for you, again, from what I hear. But he ran into me. Kagome I smell like you, of course he would know.” 

“Oh, yeah. Right.” She sighed before plopping herself down on the grass to rest. 

Kouga sat down beside her. “Look, he wanted me to give you a message. He understands why you ran and he didn’t chase you because he didn’t want to scare you. He wants a chance to explain himself, a real chance. You know Kagome, one where you actually _ listen  _ to what someone is saying.” He gave her a look. “I think you should hear him out.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. I know how much you love him, you may say that you’re feelings are mingled with hers and that may be true somewhat, but through all of those visions and everything, you’ve gotten to know the real him. You know who he is, you know how he acts and the kind of person he is. You can love someone you’ve never met based on that, and I know you did, before you even knew he existed. And now that you have met him, and spent time with him, you know for sure that those feelings are yours. And I think that if you have a chance to have that, a chance to be with the person you love, you should give it every opportunity to happen.” Kouga sighed, looking away from her. “You owe it to yourself to give him the chance to make it right. Maybe he does love  _ you.” _

Over the next week Kagome spent hours out of her day training, she would rise early and have a cup of tea before beginning her yoga. Then she would go for a two mile run before doing weights and core exercises. Kouga would come home for lunch and they would get a few practice sessions in before he had to go. Followed by a thirty minute soak in the tub before tossing her hair up into a messy bun and sitting in her robe to bust out her class assignments. She had contacted all her teachers, saying she had a family emergency and asked if she was able to submit all her work through email for the next few weeks. After the necessities were finished it was just in time for Kouga bringing some dinner home, and sitting on the couch with a glass of wine to watch a movie. Even with her days fully occupied she still had difficulty sleeping. 

On the night before her big match she laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, her mind tormented her with images of Inuyasha. His smile, his warmth, the comfort of his arms, his self assured, sweet, cocky attitude. The tears flowed freely and she didn’t try to stop them, they had become her constant companion. Her gaze turned to her recently unused phone sitting on the nightstand. She hesitantly reached for it. She turned it over in her hands a few times, debating. Caving, she unlocked her phone, and looked at the unopened voicemails waiting for her. 

She pressed play on the first one.

“Kagome, please come back. We should talk about this.”

Her heart ached at the sound of his voice. She listened to the next one.

“Kagome, pick up please. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Just give me a chance to explain. Come back.” His voice sounded more desperate than the first message.

The next message his voice was panicked. “Please, Kagome. Just tell me you’re ok. Look, I’m heading over to your apartment, if you don’t want to talk that’s fine. I just want to make sure you’re ok. Please, please call me.”

She clutched her phone tightly, rolling over to her side, the next message was a lot longer than the others, and was only from a week ago. She bit her lip nervously before pressing play. 

His voice sounded calm but was full of pain. “Kagome. I’ve been really worried, you haven’t been at your apartment or at the gym. I-I finally ran into Kouga, and I know you’re staying with him. I guess this is your way of avoiding me. I understand why you are, and I’m really sorry. I wasn’t thinking, all of the information was so overwhelming and I just put my foot in my mouth. Please, I hope you’ll listen for a minute. If you can try to see it from my eyes, I had the love of my life die in my arms and then almost thirty years later I run into you and you look exactly like her. I didn’t know what to think or do or how it was possible. You said you didn’t know me and my only thought was to try to get to know you, to figure things out. And as I got to know you, it was easy to see that the similarities pretty much stopped at your looks. Kagome, please. I do love you, for you, not for your face. I need you in my life, and not because you’re some kind of weird connection to her, but because I need  _ you. _ ” His voice broke and the sound of tears came. “Please, this past week and a half have been torture, please I-” His voice hitched. “I just need to talk to you. Let me explain things in person. Please don’t give up on us.”

The voicemail ended and Kagome lay there, heartbroken, tears streaming. Her heart ached and she hated herself. She knew him, she had known him, and the fact that she had let her own lifelong insecurities get in the way was the hardest pill to swallow. She should’ve known that he wouldn’t have judged her based on his past feelings. She sobbed herself into another restless sleep. 

Kagome went for a short run in the morning followed by a solid hour of yoga before she sat down with a cup of tea to try to clear her mind. She had to be at the ring at midnight, Kouga’s match was before hers at one and she didn’t want to miss it. She was having a hard time thinking how she could possibly go into this high stakes match with her mind in the state it was. She didn’t have a choice though, this was what she had been working towards for years. 

She went for another run around lunch time followed by another round of yoga. Afterwards she soaked in the tub, images of Inuyasha dancing in her mind, the sound of his voice ringing in her ears. Remembering his words in the voicemail pained her, her heart throbbed and her head ached. She had been stupid and she knew it, she should’ve called him last night after listening to it but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She had hurt him along with herself and she was having a hard time facing it. Deciding that she would call him tomorrow, after her fight, she didn’t know how the talk would go and didn’t want to be any more of a wreck going into her fight than she already was. She texted Kouga and told him that she had decided that she was going to call Inuyasha after her fight, or she was just going to go over there. He replied letting her know that he was finally glad that she had come to her senses and that he thought it would be best to go and see him and that he would give her a ride over. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this update took so long. I've been on a bit of a hiatus dealing with some personal things. I've slowly been working on this chapter and trying to work my way back to writing again. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to come out, hope you enjoy this one!

Kagome had a hard time shaking her nerves as she stood at the edge of the ring, Totosai at her side, watching as Kouga’s sweeping kick sent his opponent crashing to the ring floor. A roar erupted from the crowd when the demon didn’t rise. There was a slight shuffle in the crowd as they parted way for the couple of bodyguards coming to help carry the unconscious demon from the ring. Kouga circled the ring a few times, fists in the air, as he accepted the cheering of the crowd, a grin plastered on his face. 

Kouga pulled her into a tight hug after jumping out of the ring. He wished her luck as the announcer began introducing the next fight. Kagome’s blood pulsed in her ears, drowning out the words. She tried to concentrate on pulling her mind back into focus. Closing her eyes and taking a deep, steading breath as Totosai’s hand clasped her shoulder. He spoke a few encouraging words into her ear. Opening her eyes she gave both her companions a small smile as she unzipped her black track jacket, handing it over to Totosai before climbing up into the ring. 

Kagome took another deep breath, leaning forward to stretch, more as a distraction than from need. Slowly she was able to refocus her mind, all the thoughts of Inuyasha and  _ her _ slipping from her mind, till only the training remained. Each muscle tensing briefly before relaxing, remembering the flow of movements, drilled in from endless hours of training. She felt the strange calmness wash over her, as it did right before any fight. 

When Kagome finally saw the face of her opponent climbing the steps of the ring, her calmness almost dissipated. She knew how to face a stronger opponent, using their weight as leverage against them; her slim, smaller build being more agile than those of a larger foe. But when faced against a challenger whose primary proficiency was finesse and agility she was faced with a great disadvantage. Add to that the strength and constitution of a demon and Kagome was essentially outmatched. 

Kagome’s throat suddenly felt raw and dry. The electric green eyes of the cat demon bore into her, a predatory grin spreading across his face, exposing sharp canines. The announcer finally made his way off the stage, his words lost to Kagome’s deaf ears. The cat wasted no time, not bothering to take the time to circle her, size her up, take stock of the way her feet moved across the ring floor, but launched straight into an attack. Leaping for Kagome, the cat's sharp claws came sweeping down to strike. Kagome’s arm instinctively came up to block the blow as she took a step back, the claws ripping through the flesh on her forearm. The skin split open, the sharp pain shooting all the way up her arm, blood instantly streaming from the gashes, dripping onto the mat. She pulled her arm back, cradling it against her chest as she bit back the scream that logged itself in the back of her throat. With wide eyes, she quickly ducked and shuffled to the side, escaping the swipe from the cat’s other set of claws. Gripping her arm tight, trying to slow the blood flow underneath her fingers, she quickly dogged around the ring, managing to escape the deadly claws by a hair's width everytime. 

_ Think Kagome! Come on, you can’t run around dodging all night. You need to end this fight quickly, you’re gonna pass out from the bloss loss.  _

Deciding that her only option was to try to fight back, she released her hold on her arm, a sharp hiss escaping from between clenched teeth. As the cat seemed to be focusing on trying to dig his claws into Kagome’s face, she decided to aim lower. She dropped down onto her hands, swinging both feet out as her palms smacked down against the mat. Her feet simultaneously connected with the side of the cat’s legs. The cat was knocked off balance, tumbling to the mat, landing on his back. 

_ So much for cats always landing on their feet.  _ Kagome thought with a smirk. 

Quickly moving over, she pinned one arm down with her knee, gripping the cat’s hand in both of hers. Using all the strength she could muster, she wretched the hand to the side, a sickening crunch coming from the wrist as the bone snapped. The cat let out a loud wail. His free arm swung around, a fist slammed into Kagome’s cheekbone, throwing her off of the cat. Kagome quickly tried to get to her feet, but slipped on the bloody mat. Landing on her hands and knees, she tried to roll away as the cat grabbed for her. 

Managing to roll away, she stood. For a brief moment her eyes spotted a familiar face in the crowd, her eyes rapidly sweeping across the faces, desperately searching for it again. 

_ My mind must be playing tricks on me. _

Her momentary distraction was enough to make her forget her fight, but she was quickly pulled back in when a fist connected with her jaw. Kagome felt the blood dribble down her chin even as she fell to the mat, landing with a thud. Her lungs burned as the air was forced out in a rush, an involuntary groan emerging from deep in her chest. The demon was on top of her, pinning her down, the crushing weight stopping Kagome from taking a full breath. 

Kagome tried to block the blows to her face with her uninjured arm while trying to swing back at the demon with the other. When the cat demon grabbed her injured arm, digging his claws into the gashes, she let out an ear-piercing scream, her back arching off the mat, head tilting back. Hot tears rolled out the sides of her eyes, falling to the mat. When the demon released her arm she let out a ragged sob. Her eyes shot open when she felt the hot fingers curl around her neck. The demon held his other arm out of reach, knowing his broken wrist was an easy target for her. Kagome brought her arms around, slamming down against the demon’s forearm, trying to break the deathgrip he had on her. She knew her injured arm was too weak to have any effect. 

_ Guess I should’ve broken both wrists.  _

“Kagome!” A voice shouted from somewhere in the crowd, her heart skipped a beat. 

Kagome tried to pry up the fingers wrapped around her neck, gasping in short breaths, her lungs on fire. The familiar tingling burn in the back of her nose started and she would’ve sighed in relief if she could’ve managed the breath. She waited for the feeling to spread throughout her body, to overwhelm her senses, to fill her with the warmth that everything would be ok, but it never came. The tingling continued as her hands desperately tried to remove the demon’s clutch, but he only increased the pressure, cutting off what little air Kagome had been managing to suck it. The fire in her lungs intensified, making her feel like she would burst into flames. Her legs kicked, trying fiercely to throw the demon off her. When black spots appeared in her vision, her panic skyrocketed. 

Her mind raced, searching for any solution to get out the pin. But when the black spots began to get bigger, her mind slowed. She slapped one of her hands down on the mat several times, signaling her tap out. The pressure didn’t let up. Even as she fought to keep her eyes open she tried again, slamming her hand down on the mat, a little less forcefully as her strength began to fade. 

“She fucking tapped out!” 

The weight was thrown off her, and she gasped in a breath, the air a cooling relief to her burning lungs. A hoarse deep cough escaped her throat as she rolled on her side. She was still sucking in sharp breaths of the refreshing air when someone touched her shoulder. 

“Kagome?”

She looked up, turning her head towards the voice. “Kouga.” Her voice was quiet and scratchy. She gave him a weak smile and lifted a shaky arm up to him. 

Kouga reached down and scooped her up, cradling her against his chest as he stood. She wrapped her arm around his neck and let out another cough. “Well that sucked, huh?” She whispered. He carried her out of the ring, making his way through the crowd towards the locker rooms. Kagome tuned out the voices of the crowd and closed her eyes. 

* * *

Kouga carried her into the empty locker room, gently setting her down on one of the benches. Totosai burst into the room a moment later. 

“What happened out there? Kagome, are you ok?” He came up to stand in front of her, depositing a small bag onto the floor. “Let’s get a look at the arm.” Bending over and pulling a fresh rag from the bag. Firmly grasping her hand with his, he began delicately wiping the blood from her arm. “Kouga, go get me some water.”

With a nod Kouga left, heading back towards the bathroom and shower area. Returning less than a minute later with a large stainless steel bowl filled with fresh, cool water. As he gently set it down on the bench beside Kagome the locker room doors swung open. 

All three turned heads to look at the man standing in the doorway. He was wearing jeans and a red Adidas hoodie. He had long black hair and his eyes were a soft greyish-violet. His brows were furrowed with worry and confusion. 

Kagome studied the man’s face, she sucked in a sharp breath. “Inuyasha?” Her voice came out in a raspy whisper. 

Totosai glanced at Kouga, who shrugged. Dipping the rag into the bowl, Totosai moved Kagome’s arm over the bowl and rang the rag out over her wound, the water washing over the gouges and the excess falling back into the bowl. 

Hissing Kagome turned her attention away from Inuyasha and back to her arm. Totosai repeated the act before using the rag to wipe around her arm again to get a better look at the injury. 

“Looks like a few of these might need stitches Kagome,” Totosai shook his head at her. “Hospital?” He questioned.

Kagome shook her head, “No. No hospitals. I can do it. Kouga, can you grab me one of the painkillers from the bag and the bottle of betadine?” 

Kouga knelt down and dug through the bag, pulling out a pill bottle and shaking one out onto his palm. Grabbed the water bottle from the bag he reached up to hand Kagome first the pill, which she tossed into her mouth, then the now open water bottle. She swallowed down a couple big gulps before handing it back. 

Inuyasha had finally moved into the room, standing a few paces away from the trio, arms folded over his chest and a deep scowl on his face. He stayed silent but his eyes never left Kagome’s face. 

Kouga removed the cap from the betadine and handed it up to Totosai. Pulling a box of black gloves from the bag, he tugged one free and turned to Kagome to help her slip it onto her free hand. Totosai doused one of his hands in the betadine then the other, shaking his hands over the bowl.

Taking hold of her arm again, Totosai held it steady over the bowl before pouring a generous amount over the wounds. Turning his head back to Kouga who was still crouched over the bag. He pulled out a couple packs of gauze pads, ripping one open, careful only to touch the packaging he held it up for Totosai. 

Totosai took a couple of pads from the package before he began wiping at the gashes. Kagome clenched her teeth and closed her eyes tightly. 

Kouga reached up to rest a hand lightly on her free forearm, trying to offer a small comfort. She opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile before turning her attention to her arm. She lifted her arm closer to her face as Totosai took a few more pads and began to pat the area dry. 

“Tell me there’s two suture packs left in there.” She said to Kouga as he reached into the bag and pulled out a small box. Popping it open he peered inside. 

“Last two ‘Gome.”

She let out a small sigh, “That’s ok, I’ll get some more. Only two of these really need it, I’ll survive.”

Before Kouga could rip open one of the packs, Kagome put up a hand. “Could-could you grab my headphones?” She asked him quietly. He hesitated, giving her a small frown, he glanced behind him at Inuyasha. 

“Sure.” Standing, he went over to one of the small lockers and pulled out Kagome’s bag, he reached in, bringing out her Beats and her phone. Setting her bag back into the locker, he made his way back to stand in front of her. 

Kagome cracked her neck and then shook out her free hand, taking a deep shaky breath. She looked up at Kouga and nodded. He gently placed the headphones over her ears then turned to her phone. He clicked through a few screens before turning the screen with a list of songs on it towards Kagome. She pointed on the screen without touching it. He clicked the song and set her phone down beside her.  _ Bohemian Rhapsody _ came blaring through. Kagome closed her eyes for a moment, trying to relax and put everything but the task at hand out of mind. 

Kouga unzipped Kagome’s small suture tool kit before ripping open the suture pack. He nudged Kagome on her knee. Opening her eyes, she sighed. 

“Thanks.” She muttered, taking the Hegar needle holder from its slot in the kit. “Totosai, take the other needle holder.” Kagome picked up the needle from the pack with her instrument. 

“Why does she need her headphones?” Inuyasha asked quietly from behind the group. 

Kouga glanced back at him. “Ever tried to sew yourself up? Pretty nerve wracking. On top of coming down from her adrenaline high, and being all worked up over you. Plus she just lost the fight she’s been working towards for years.” He let out a small sigh. “She’s trying to tune everything out and focus. She uses music a lot for that.”

“Can she do that one handed?” Inuyasha asked Kouga when he didn’t turn away from him. 

“Yeah, she’s had to do it a few times, she just uses a one-hand surgical knot, usually it’s me but she’s having Totosai just hold the tail end taut and then she can use her free hand to tie the knot.” Glancing back at the pair, Kouga held the tools back up to Totosai, who took the scissors out. 

“Why didn’t she just go to the hospital, surely that would’ve been easier.”

Kouga stood and turned back to Inuyasha. “Funny enough, she hates hospitals. She can work in them, no problem. But she has a weird phobia about going when she would be the patient. I’m sure you understand why.” Kouga raised a brow at him, daring him to contradict it. When Inuyasha clenched his jaw but said nothing, Kouga continued. “She was gonna come see you after her fight. Have you been here the whole time?”

Inuyasha nodded. “She hasn’t contacted me at all and I knew her fight was tonight, I was hoping to catch her here so we could talk.”

Kouga studied Inuyasha’s face. “Bad night to come out, not as risky as it used to be of course but you risk a lot of people finding out your night being here.”

“It was the only night I knew where she would be for sure. I just need a chance to say my peace.”

“Well.” Kouga started, glancing back to make sure Kagome was still busy before turning back to Inuyasha. “As much as I want you two to work out. Yes, I’ve known about everything for a long time. If you’re here to try to make things work between you two, which I would assume you are, then you better be doing it for the right reasons. Even without knowing your vulnerable night, I would be able to take you. Don’t hurt her.” 

“Kouga.” Totosai gestured towards the other suture pack with his chin. 

Leaning down, Kouga plucked it from the box and tore it open, holding it out for Kagome. 

Ten minutes later Kagome let out a loud sigh and pulled her headphones off and hit pause on her phone. “Gauze wrap please Kouga.”

Kouga opened the requested package, holding it out for Totosai who took it and began wrapping it around Kagome’s arm before securing it off. 

Kagome stood from the bench and stretched a bit before crouching over the bag and securing her instruments away as Kouga scooped up the used gauze and bowl, taking them back towards the bathroom area. Totosai followed to wash up. 

Avoiding Inuyasha’s gaze, Kagome finished packing everything up in the medical bag, zipping it close as the two came back into the room. She stood, handing the bag back to Totosai. “I’ll get some more suture kits as soon as I can. I’ll lock up when I leave.” 

“I’ll call you in a few days to see how you’re healing up.” Totosai left the locker room. 

Kouga came back with a damp rag, gesturing to Kagome’s face so she could wipe the dried blood off. After she threw the used rag back onto the bench Kouga pulled her into a brief hug before planting a kiss on her cheek. “Call me tomorrow.” When she nodded in acknowledgement, Kouga glanced at Inuyasha before striding from the room.

Kagome turned to gather up her headphones and phone before making her way to her locker. As she was stuffing the items into her bag she noticed her shaky hands. She closed her eyes, taking a slow deep breath. 

“What are you doing here Inuyasha?” She spoke quietly, still turned away from him, glad that her voice held firm. 

“I was hoping we could talk… I needed to see you.”

Kagome squeezed her eyes more tightly closed as her heart skipped at the sound of his voice, willing the tears not to form. “I forgot it was the new moon. You shouldn’t be here.”

There was a small sigh from Inuyasha. “Well I’m kind of glad it is the new moon. I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from interfering in that fight otherwise.” A few silent moments passed before he spoke again. “Kagome.” His voice was almost a whisper. “Can you look at me please?”

Kagome quickly dashed away the few tears that had managed to escape. Taking another uneasy breath, she slowly turned to face him. He stood in the same spot, arms still crossed but his features were pained and worried. 

“I just wanted a chance to tell you in person how sorr-”

“No.” Kagome held up her hand, cutting him off. Taking a few steps toward him she spoke again. “I’m sorry. I was emotional and overreacted. This is something I’ve been battling with for a long time and I should’ve given you a minute to process everything. I shouldn’t have run and I’ve regretted it every day that I’ve been apart from you.”

Inuyasha’s arms dropped to his sides and he seemed to almost sag in relief. “Kagome, I’m so sorry.”

Kagome heard the unspoken words in his seemingly simple apology, he was apologizing for more than just their fight, but for all her lifelong misgivings, her constant thoughts and feelings that life had dealt her a shitty hand. When he took a tentative step towards her, Kagome couldn’t handle the distance any longer. Taking quick steps to him, she threw her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest as a few fresh tears escaped down her cheeks. Inuyasha’s arms were instantly around her, holding her tightly to his chest, when his cheek rested on the top of her head he let out a shaky relieved sigh. 

“Kagome, I’m sorry. When I first met you the only thing on my mind was trying to figure out what was going on, why you looked like her. But then… Then I got to know you, and the more time we spent together, I realized that you’re nothing like her and then there was only you. I just wanted to know you, spend time with you, be with you. Then that night we-we took that next step, got so close. I realized that I had to clear my head and decide what to do. I knew I would have to tell you about her, it wouldn’t have been fair of me to move our relationship forward without...confessing. I never would have imagined… Kagome, please, I’m sorry. I love you, please believe me.”

Letting out a trembling breath Kagome tightened her arms around him. “This isn’t your fault, I recognized you the first time I saw you. I ran, I was so freaked out. I should’ve been the one to tell you, I was ju-just scared. Inuyasha, I love you. I’ve loved you for a really long time.”

Kagome had no idea how long they stood like that, clutching tightly onto each other, both relishing in each other, at not having lost one another. She didn’t know when the air had suddenly changed between them or how his lips were abruptly pressing into hers with a strong fierceness, one hand tangled in her now loose hair, the other on her lower back pressing her firmly against him. 

Kagome’s hands began exploring his body, roaming everywhere they could reach. She grabbed the hem of his hoodie and began tugging it up, Inuyasha stepped back and jerked it up bringing his shirt with it, tossing them to the floor. He pulled her against him, lips fiding hers again. Kagome moaned into his mouth, her fingers feeling the firmness of his chest. Trailing them along his adonis V, he let out a moan and bit her bottom lip. 

Inuyasha left her mouth and began trailing kisses across her face, and nibbled her earlobe. “I missed you so much. I’ve been dying without you.” He whimpered into her ear before continuing his trail down along her neck. Stopping at the juncture of her neck and shoulder and giving it a nip before sucking down on it, eliciting a gasp and a deep moan from Kagome. 

Kagome grabbed her tank top and pulled away slightly from him to yank it over her head. Her need for him starting to overwhelm her need for a slow gentle reconnection. Crouching down to kneel in front of him she unbuttoned his jeans, yanking them along with his boxers down to his feet. His erection bounced free, taking it in her hand, she looked up at him through her lashes. His pupils wide with lust, she leaned forward and licked him from shaft to tip, stopping to suck the tip into her mouth, tongue moving to lap up the precum. Never breaking eye contact she brought him fully into her mouth until he hit the back of her throat, letting out a moan she continued to hollow her cheeks and pump him a few times with her mouth. She released him with a pop before standing and beginning to remove her shoes. 

Inuyasha quickly deposited his shoes on the floor before kicking his pants away. He stood naked before her just as she finished pulling off her own pants. Grabbing him by the shoulders she yanked him over to her, lips crashing together. She guided him over to the bench, gently pushing him down onto it before climbing into his lap. Hands supporting her on her back, Inuyasha leaned forward, placing kisses down her neck, across her chest before taking a rosy nipple into his mouth. Kagome let out a moan, arching her back, pressing her breasts closer to him. 

Pulling away slightly, she reached down between them, taking Inuyasha in her hand and guiding him to her entrance. Slowly sinking down onto him, she took his face in her hands and pressed her lips to his. She began to move, his hands on her hips, helping guide her along his length. Kagome placed kisses on his face, along his jaw and up to his ear. Using the tip of her tongue she ran it along the shell of his ear, dragging a ragged moan from the back of Inuyasha’s throat. 

“Guess these ears are just as sensitive as your other ones, huh?” Kagome whispered into his ear, a smug smile on her face. With that she took his earlobe between her teeth, giving it a light tug. “I love you Inuyasha.” 

* * *

Afterwards Kagome wrapped her arms around Inuyasha’s neck, holding him close. 

“I was scared I’d lost you.” Inuyasha whispered into the crevice of her neck. Arms wrapped tightly around her waist. 

“I’m not going anywhere. Ever again. Let’s go shower then you can come home with me.”

After a long hot shower with another round of sex, Kagome and Inuyasha took turns drying each other off. Pulling on their clothes they shared a few knowing smiles. Kagome pulled her hair back into a tail before grabbing her bag from the locker. 

“Almost sunrise, let’s go watch the sun come up on my balcony before we get some sleep.” Kagome said, holding her hand out for his. 

Inuyasha slipped his warm hand into hers. “That sounds amazing.”

She led him from the locker room, across the gym and out the door. Arms wrapped around each other’s waist, they turned to head down the alley. 

“Well well, look what we have here, the mutt-lover and her little pet.” A deep, gravelly voice came from the end of the alley. Blocking the way to the road was four hulking figures. Their giant builds giving away their onikuma origins. 

“Kiyohime sends her regards.” Spoke the gravelly voice again. 

_ Kiyohime? _ Images of three girls surrounding her then her kneeling over a demon girl and pummeling into her face over and over until Inuyasha pulled her off the demon flashed through Kagome’s mind. 

“Fuck.” Kagome whispered, the blood draining from her face and her grip on Inuyasha tightening. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry this took so long and sorry it's on the shorter side (kinda). Life happens so I haven't really been writing at all, it's been rough but I'm trying to slowly get back into things. Hope you like this chapter, maybe you can start to guess (if you haven't already) as to what's going on with Kagome and all that fun stuff.  
> Loves!

Kagome and Inuyasha both stumbled when they each tried to shove the other behind their back. Exchanging momentary looks of confusion and gratitude they stood beside each other, straightening and standing tall as they turned their attention back to the group of demons. Kagome brushed her hand lightly against Inuyasha’s before taking a step forward. 

“Why don’t you all fuck off and tell Kiyohime to fight her own battles.” Kagome spoke venomously. 

The group started moving slowly towards the couple. “Well you see, she wanted to but found that she didn’t want to dirty her hands with such…” The leader’s eyes travelled down the length of Inuyasha. “Filth.” 

Kagome let her bag slip from her shoulder and fall to the ground with a soft thump. She glanced back at Inuyasha, hoping he could see the love and affection in her eyes before she turned back to the group. As they got closer, Kagome took another step forward, this time in front of Inuyasha. She heard a sigh from him as he stepped forward, once again taking his place beside her. 

“Look, we will make this easy. Just let us take the mutt and we won’t rip him to shreds first.”

Kagome spoke through clenched teeth, her hands curling tightly into fists. “Over. My. Dead. Body.”

The leader gave her a vile grin. “That can be arranged.”

Two of the onikuma sprinted forward, one heading for each Kagome and Inuyasha; the leader and last onikuma hanging back for a good opportunity to step in. When the two were within range of Inuyasha and Kagome, they each threw out a punch, throwing the full weight of their massive bodies into the swing. 

Kagome ducked down, kicking out her leg between the onikuma’s legs, and then quickly pulling the leg back to her, sending the onikuma to the ground. He twisted as he fell onto his back, his hooked leg resting underneath Kagome's kneeling body. She stood and spun rapidly, giving the onikuma a firm kick in between the legs before backing off. Not leaving herself within range to be grabbed by the prone figure. The onikuma howled in pain, curling slightly in on himself for a few moments before carefully rising. 

As the swing came in towards Inuyasha, he shifted to the side, out of the fist’s directory. He swung a punch of his own, landing a blow on the unsuspecting onikuma’s cheekbone. The onikuma was hardly affected by the jab and Inuyasha chided himself at only succeeding in hurting his own hand. 

Kagome’s onikuma took a few swings at her that she barely managed to dodge before one blow finally landed, sending her toppling over to the ground, breath knocked from her lungs. She landed with a thud and a groan as she quickly tried to roll out of the way and rise. An arm wrapped around her neck and she was pulled tightly against a firm chest. The arm squeezed tighter, her air almost completely cut off; Kagome struggled, trying to pry the arm free. When that proved ineffective she reached a hand up to try to claw at the face behind her. A hand firmly grabbed her wrist, yanking it back down before the arm wrapped around Kagome’s middle, trapping her arms at her sides. 

“No use struggling.” The voice of the leader spoke next to Kagome’s ear. “Now you get to watch your mutt’s end.”

The third onikuma that had been lingering behind finally walked up to the rest of them, the three onikuma circling around Inuyasha. They all pounced on him at once, blows were exchanged, kicks thrown, and one of the onikuma stumbled away clutching a shoulder. Inuyasha tried to focus on all three opponents but was too outmatched against the demons in his human form. When one of them finally managed to knock Inuyasha down, they began to kick him, not sparing or pulling back from blows to the head. Blood streamed down Inuyasha’s face as he tried desperately to cover his head. 

Kagome fought harder against the vice-like arms keeping her in place. “Inu-yasha.” She choked out with a struggling breath. The familiar tingle started in the back of her throat, spreading up to her nose, causing it to twitch. Kagome drank in the feeling, trying to absorb it and hold on to it, but nothing happened, the feeling stuck in the back of her nose like a lingering sneeze. 

Flailing against her captor, Kagome managed to free an arm, bringing a fist up to try to punch behind her. A sound of a loud snap, had Kagome’s eyes turning back to the group just as Inuyasha let out a loud moan as one of the onikuma broke his arm. Her fist failed to cause the leader’s arm to loosen, it had the opposite effect as the arm around her neck tightened even more, her throat closing off, the air leaving her lungs.

“Guess we get rid of you as well.” The leader muttered into her ear.

As Kagome’s vision swam, and black spots started to form around the edges her gaze flickered to the rising sun in the distance. 

_ Come on, come on. Hold on Inuyasha! Just another minute or two, you can make it. Just hold on! _

Kagome fought against the darkness trying to pull her under and the drowsiness pulling her under. Just as she was about to slip under the first few rays of the sun hit her face, she blinked her eyes open slowly. Inuyasha pulsed with a light a moment before the black of his hair seemed to melt away, being replaced with his natural silver. He let out a loud growl before grabbing an incoming foot and pulling the onikuma off his feet. 

The leader’s grip slipped just enough for Kagome to suck in a sharp breath, a burning cough building in her throat. Inuyasha rose as the onikuma took a step away from him, his arm healing with an audible crunch. He lifted his golden eyes to meet Kagome’s, they seemed to see deep inside of her for a moment before they flashed red. They flickered back and forth from gold to red before they settled on red. Purple slashes formed across his cheeks and his claws grew slightly. He let out a low angry growl.

“Holy fuck.” The leader whispered.

The tingling feeling in Kagome’s nose grew tenfold, she sucked in another sharp breath, a surge of warmth washing over her. The warmth intensified till it felt like her blood was boiling. Her limbs began to tremble as the pain and power consumed her. She let out a small sneeze; then another and another. The flecks of gold in her eye bled out, not only filing the iris but consuming the pupil as well as the white of the eye. Kagome gasped at the feeling of power radiating and pulsing through her, no longer burning her alive but supporting and vitalizing her. 

_ What is this? It’s never felt like this before… _

The leader tugged on the arm around Kagome’s neck, trying to drag her towards the entrance of the alley. Kagome reached up, taking hold of the arm, suddenly filled with enough strength to take on this demon. She ripped the arm free from around her, twisting as she yanked it to the side. The leader groaned as he began to fall to his knees. Kagome spun on him, kicking the side of his leg, as she had done to Kouga, and the leg snapped. She released the arm before kicking the onikuma leader in the chest, sending him flying into the brick wall of the building. The bricks crumbled under the force, the leader slumping slightly. 

“Stay down.” She spat at him. Turning to help Inuyasha, Kagome froze at the sight. One onikuma lay unmoving on the ground and Kagome hoped he was just unconscious. Another having taken advantage of the distracted youkai to run off, no longer in the alley. Inuyasha however, was beginning to rip an arm from the body of the onikuma now on the ground, blood spraying on the graveled, dirty alleyway. 

“Inuyasha!” Kagome screamed. 

Inuyasha’s head jerked up, meeting Kagome’s wide, terrified eyes. He dropped the arm from his clutches, the onikuma temporarily forgotten. His fangs were bared and his claws were dripping with blood. His red eyes swept across her, his demon completely devouring him. He let out a warning growl before charging at her.

Kagome was too terrified to react, her fear freezing her in place. When Inuyasha slammed her into the wall, pinning her against it with one clawed hand on either side of her head, she let out a whimper. Closing her eyes tight and turning her head to the side, trying to tamp down the adrenaline and fear swamping her. She could feel the warmth of his breath across her face as he let out another low growl. Her whimpered response cut the growl short. Upon feeling his nose running along the side of her neck, sniffing as it went, she tensed. It was when she felt his tongue running along the juncture where shoulder met neck that her eyes snapped open.

Kagome looked to him, his fangs were no longer exposed, but tucked away behind tight lips; his growl was gone but replaced with quick deep breaths. She studied his face, glancing at the slashes across his cheeks before turning her attention to his red eyes. Trying to see past the demon, she thought she caught a glimpse of  _ her _ Inuyasha inside. Breath held, she tentatively reached up a hand, gliding a finger across one the the slashes on his cheek. A moment later, moving too quickly for her to catch it, he grabbed her wrist; the gentleness of his hold surprised Kagome. Lifting her arm, his red eyes scanned over her stitched injuries. Sniffing them he let out a small growl, obviously displeased. 

Inuyasha dropped her arm before nuzzling his face into her neck, a growl rumbling in his chest in what Kagome felt was meant to be a comforting manner. His reaction caused tears to well up in her eyes, and she felt her fear slide away. Throwing her arms around his waist, she pressed her body close to his; the tears escaping and rolling down her cheeks. 

“Inuyasha.” She sobbed out.

He leaned down, pressing his face into her neck again, sniffing deeply before placing another firm lick up the side of her neck. He continued to nuzzle into her neck even as his arms finally came down to embrace her, pulling her in tight against his chest.

Inuyasha’s breath came out in pants for a moment before he pulsed with power again, his body trembling slightly in Kagome’s arms as he sucked in a sharp breath. 

“Kagome?” His voice was slightly panicked as he pulled back from her. Grasping her forearms in his hands lightly as his eyes drank in her face. “Are you ok?”

Kagome gaped at him, taking in his once again golden eyes and the smooth cheeks free of purple slashes. “Inuyasha...what happened to you?” She asked timidly. 

Inuyasha cupped one of her cheeks in his hand, smoothing his thumb across her cheekbone. “I don’t know, my… that’s never happened to me before, my demon has never taken over like that.” When a few rogue tears escaped her eyes, Inuyasha brushed them away. “I’m sorry if I scared you.” He whispered. 

Pushing his hand away Kagome wrapped her arms around him again. “I was scared. At first anyways, but then I felt like you wouldn’t hurt me, I could sense a part of  _ you  _ in there somewhere.”

Inuyasha squeezed her tightly and dropped a kiss to the top of her head before letting go. “We should get out of here.”

Kagome sniffed and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She nodded at him as she jogged over to grab her bag. After slinging it over her shoulder she jogged back over to take hold of Inuyasha’s outstretched waiting hand. 

He led her out of the alley and instead of turning towards her apartment, he led her towards his car parked a block away. Kagome tossed her bag into the back seat before climbing inside and securing her seatbelt in place. 

“Where are we going?”

Inuyasha started the car before glancing at her. “To see someone I think that we are overdue to visit.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be dedicated to anyone that can guess who they are going to go see!


End file.
